


The Untold Story of the Witches of Hogwarts

by lrhaboggle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Wicked - All Media Types
Genre: Anthology, Crossover, Cute, F/F, Gay, Gelphie, Hogwarts, Lesbian, Magic, One Shot, Oz - Freeform, Romance, Ship, Shiz, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2020-01-13 15:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 35,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18472078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lrhaboggle/pseuds/lrhaboggle
Summary: An anthology of Gelphie one-shots set in Hogwarts.





	1. Quidditch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I'm dedicating this entire anthology to elphiegranger2508. Thank you so much for all of your reads, reviews and votes! I really do appreciate it! You're the best!

A young Elphaba took a reluctant, young Galinda out to her secret Quidditch pitch in the hopes of teaching her how to play the game.

"Do we really have to?" Galinda whined as Elphaba dragged her along under the cover of darkness.

"Yes! You promised!" Elphaba replied. For once, she was not swayed by her friend's pitiful pleas or whimpers. "You promised that if you could give me a makeover, I could give you a Quidditch lesson!" she reminded, and Galinda was forced to concur.

Once the duo reached the pitch, Elphaba brought Galinda over to a particularly large shrub where she had hidden two broomsticks and the four Quidditch balls. She wasted no time in explaining the rules to Galinda and as soon as she was finished, she all but dragged Galinda into the air by the ear. Galinda had to physically shove Elphaba off of her in order to fly properly.

"I have been on a broom before you know!" she pouted, but Elphaba didn't hear her, already too busy doing loop-de-loops to notice.

A few minutes later, their little game began. Because it was only the two of them, however, a few of the rules had to be modified. In their first round, their little Snitch was not used at all, and it was solely them, a Quaffle and the two Bludgers. What made the game difficult when played like that was that each girl had to try and defend herself from a Bludger while also trying to keep the Quaffle and get it through the enemy "goal post", which was really just a fork in a tree. It was during that first little match of trying to protect herself and her goal from the Bludgers and Elphaba that Galinda thanked Merlin that Elphaba had made these Bludgers nothing but a ball of enchanted sticks and leaves. Only being little children, barely the age of eight, neither of them had access to a real set of Quidditch balls. Because of that, they were improvising.

Elphaba managed to win that first match, and the next few after that. Finally, though, she dared to add in their little Golden Snitch.

"You ready?!" Elphaba sounded like she was about to burst from excitement.

"I guess," Galinda sounded like she wanted nothing more than to go to bed. Although Qudditch had been kind of fun, it really was late and Galinda was tired! Besides, Elphaba kept beating her. It wasn't exactly fun to play like six consecutive matches and lose every single one.

"Alright! Cover your eyes!" Elphaba commanded. Although this was not a real rule of Quidditch, she was adding it in so that neither she nor Galinda would know where the Snitch went. Galinda obeyed Elphaba's command and, once both of their eyes were shut and covered, Elphaba tossed their little Snitch up into the air. After counting down from 10, both pairs of eyes opened and began to scan the moonlit horizon for the Snitch. Faster than the blink of an eye, Elphaba suddenly yanked her broom upward. Galinda needed no other indication to know that Elphaba had spotted the Snitch. Embarrassed, but lacking any other formal plan, Galinda veered right up after Elphaba and kept hot on her trail.

After what felt like an eternity of seeking and then losing and then seeking again, Elphaba and Galinda finally both noticed their Golden Snitch hovering towards the lower end of their secret little Quidditch pitch. The two of them exchanged one look before both of them shot after that little glowing ball, both of them fighting hard to go faster than the other. It was intense three and a half seconds as both Elphaba and Galinda hunched over their brooms and urged them onward, shooting at the ground with an alarming speed. The Snitch continued to idle there, as if unaware of the two young girls narrowing down in on it. At last, though, Elphaba retreated. After getting too close to the ground, she pulled out of her nosedive at the last second. Galinda, however, kept on. Foolish and dangerous as that type of stunt was, she was so tired of being beaten and battered about like the leaf in a windstorm that she dared to deepen her nosedive and keep on going. Her bravery and risk-taking paid off a quarter of a second later when she suddenly, sharply, turned back upward from her nosedive, the Golden Snitch clasped tightly in her hands.

"WOO HOO!" she cheered, waving her trophy around like a madwoman.

"Wow! Amazing!" Elphaba applauded Galinda as she flew a few victory laps around the perimeter of the pitch. As she continued to wave the Snitch around in triumph, Elphaba wore her own smile of victory. Success! She had managed to get Galinda hooked onto Quidditch! And for many nights to follow, the two little girls would sneak away from their houses to come out here and play their secret little rounds of Quidditch!

Only a few short years later, the two girls were both admitted into Hogwarts.

"How splendid this will be!" Galinda hopped excitedly from foot to foot.

"Just imagine! A real and proper Quidditch match!" Elphaba agreed, just as excited. But their joys were short-lived, because not long after arrival to those hallowed halls and vine-draped walls of Hogwarts, something tore the two girls apart.

"Hmmm. Brave, intelligent, hard-working and ambitious!" the Sorting Hat muttered as it was placed on Elphaba's head. "Difficult, very difficult!"

"Uhhhh, excuse me? Sitting right here," Elphaba snarked.

"Ah! And feisty too! A silver tongue, a golden heart, an iron will and steel nerves! Spirited girl, aren't you?" the Hat cackled.

"I can't tell if those are compliments, or insults," Elphaba replied.

The Sorting Hat only laughed again before falling silent, analyzing Elphaba's heart, mind and soul once more. This was what had made Elphaba so guarded towards the Hat. It made her uneasy to think that this thing, whatever it really was, could read her thoughts and heart so easily! She didn't like thinking that there was some sort of weakness or vulnerability that was being displayed so openly to anyone! She was a bit intimidated by the Hat, to be quite honest. But then at last, it came to a verdict.

"You fear being open and weak and vulnerable," it mused, and Elphaba silently cursed herself for forgetting that it could read her mind, regardless of whether or not she was directly addressing it at the moment. "And this is because you like to see yourself as a strong, proud, resilient woman. You do not like following orders and you have a strong drive for justice and equal rights. I think you would do best in... GRYFFINDOR!"

Suddenly, the power of sight returned to Elphaba as the Sorting Hat was lifted from her head again. The table that was decked in red and gold banners, residing on the far right side of the dining hall, began to clap and cheer, hooting and hollering as she bashfully made their way over to them. But then, remembering the Sorting Hat's words, she forced the sheepish little grin to turn into a shining smile of confidence and her steps became bolder as she took her place amongst the lions of Hogwarts. Once she sat down, though, a small trace of the girl she used to be bled through the cracks in her tough façade as she eagerly watched Galinda head up next for her own sorting.

"Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor!" Elphaba whispered hopefully as the Sorting Hat was placed upon Galinda's head.

"Another difficult young witch! Ah! Today must be my lucky night!" the Sorting Hat remarked as it was lowered onto Galinda's head.

"What do you mean?" she asked in return.

"That green girl, your best friend, who was sorted only seconds ago, she was another difficult one," the Hat explained.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Galinda asked again, voice taking on a new edge. "I can't if this is a compliment, or insult."

"Ha!" Galinda felt the Sorting Hat shake with laughter. "She said the very same thing to me as well!" and, despite herself, Galinda felt a glow of pride rising up in her heart. She greatly respected and admired Elphaba, so to hear that they were very much alike made her feel quite proud and pleased. Besides, she figured, the more similar she was to Elphaba, the more likely it was that they would make it into the same house!

"Ah! Don't be too sure of that!" the Sorting Hat warned, and Galinda cringed, having forgotten that it could see all of her thoughts.

"But what do you mean?" she asked for a third time.

"Similar as you are to Elphaba, I can still sense a very big difference between the two of you. I have no words to qualify it yet, but you two are very different at your cores. Perhaps you have courage, wit, loyalty and resourcefulness just as much as she does, but yours is a different type. I can sense that your destiny will ultimately take you in a very different direction from Ms. Thropp and, therefore, I think it would be best that you were placed elsewhere. Your true self lies in a different house, but this is not a bad thing. No, you are most definitely a ... SLYTHERIN!"

Galinda wasn't sure what to feel as the Sorting Hat was lifted off of her head again. On the one hand, she was quite pleased and proud to have made it into the ranks of such a powerful and distinguished house, but on the other, there was a small part of her that regretted not being able to be sorted into the same house Elphaba was in. She worried that, somehow, it was her fault for not being Gryffindor enough. Because of that, and the fact that all the Gryffindors had since started to boo her for being sorted into the "bad, evil" house, she found herself unable to look over at the Gryffindor table, for fear of what she might find upon Elphaba's face if she did so.

Instead, she forced her own expression to become steely and resolute and she walked with a straight back over to the green and silver table on the far left of the dining hall. The applause and cheers she received were loud enough to rival the applause and cheers Elphaba had received from the Gryffindors. Their shouts of affirmation and affection easily drowned out the disgusted hisses from the other tables. And as a few of the Slytherins personally congratulated Galinda, shaking her hand, she couldn't help but smile a little, already feeling a bit better about her placement...

"Cat fight!" a student suddenly crowed, and every other head in the hall turned in the direction of the fight with eager eyes. Yes! Once again, it was that little blond princess and the lanky green... thing... arguing again. These fights had grown increasingly fierce and common within the past few months and the end of their bout of loathing did not appear to be anywhere in sight. If anything, their hatred for each other only grew even worse with each passing day. Ever since their separation at the sorting, Elphaba and Galinda had grown farther and farther apart. They had become the perfect stereotypes of their houses. It had since become a popular source of entertainment to watch the green Gryffindor girl find the sassy Slytherin sorceress. Sometimes, the fights were only verbal, but other times, sparks literally flew...

"Duck!" another student yelped as a jet of pink light soared through the hall and towards Elphaba. Elphaba quickly deflected the spell before retaliating with her own. In the foreground, people were running for cover. In the background, students were placing bets on who would win.

The worst fights between the two ex-best friends did not happen in the Hogwarts halls, though, they happened on the Quidditch pitch.

"Who's the mean, green, disaster machine?" Galinda asked her team loudly as the latest Quidditch match began.

"Elphaba!" the other Slytherins laughed in reply. They all raised their fists and made loud hooting noises as they flew circles around the green girl. Elphaba responded by hurling the Quaffle as hard as she could at Galinda. It struck her square on the head and ricocheted off, landing safely in the hands of one of Elphaba's fellow Gryffindors.

"Ouch!" Galinda snapped, rubbing her head as the other Gryffindor flew towards the Slytherin goal posts.

"Whoops! I guess I'm just a disaster today!" Elphaba shrugged innocently, then she went zooming towards the Slytherin goal posts as well.

These sort of sly stunts were commonplace on the pitch. How many Quaffles had Elphaba sent in Galinda's direction? How many times had Galinda tried to knock Elphaba off her broom (both with magic and normal means)? The curses, verbal and nonverbal, flew faster than the brooms. But although it was the Quidditch pitch where the two fought hardest, it was also where the two were reunited. During one particular game, Elphaba ended up getting knocked off her room. It was not because of Galinda, but rather, because of a rogue Bludger. It struck Elphaba right in the stomach and she sank like a stone. The sight of Elphaba falling woke something up within Galinda and she cried out in dismay as she watched Elphaba fall. Without even thinking, she went into a nosedive, aiming not for the Snitch, but for Elphaba, her best friend.

"And another amazing save by the Slytherin Seeker, Galinda!" the announcer's cry woke Galinda up from her little blackout and she was suddenly aware of a heavy weight across her shoulders. Elphaba. She was slumped up against Galinda, eyes glazed over in pain.

"Oh! Elphie! No!" Galinda murmured, not even realizing that she'd just called Elphaba by her pet name for the first time in a long time. She was also unaware of the staff below who were trying to get her to come down to the ground, and she was also unaware of the students who were crying out with a mix of anger and awe at the little blond who had just interrupted (and ended) the whole game just because she left the pitch. Galinda was too worried about Elphaba's safety to care about any of that at all. All that mattered was getting Elphaba to the hospital. All else was secondary...

"How are you feeling, Elphie?" the first thing Elphaba was aware of was a throbbing pain in her abdomen. The second was of this question. The third was the realization of who it was that was asking.

"Galinda?" she asked.

"Hey," Galinda's voice was tender and as Elphaba's eyes flickered open, they were met with a gentle light and an old familiar face. "How are you feeling?" the face repeated, genuine concern written upon it.

"Like I got run over by a Hippogriff," Elphaba replied with a groan. Galinda's concern deepened and she reached out shyly to touch Elphaba's hand. That seemed to jolt Elphaba up a bit and she cleared her throat awkwardly, but she didn't pull away.

For a moment, there was only an awkward silence before Elphaba spoke again.

"Thank you, by the way, for saving me," she said. Although she'd been half knocked out at the time, Elphaba had still been aware enough to realize that it had not been one of her teammates who saved her, but the Seeker of the enemy team, who had been her personal rival for the past few months. It had been a strange thing to realize, but Elphaba was already ready and willing to let bygones be bygones in exchange for what Galinda had done. And it wasn't even just the kind gesture that Elphaba latched onto, it was the speed with which Galinda had done it. Galinda had caught Elphaba fairly quickly, implying that it had, ultimately, been a reflex for her to protect and care for Elphaba.

That spoke far more about Galinda's feelings for Elphaba than the act of actually catching her did. It was something Elphaba was not able to forget, and she didn't want to either. For all of their quarrels, the two always had each other's backs when it mattered most. After all, even the Gryffindor Seeker hadn't had as reflexes fast as Galinda when it came to Elphaba being in trouble. It was nice to know that even after all they had done to each other, it was still first nature for Galinda to try and save Elphaba's life, no matter the context or circumstance. And the nosedive had been pretty impressive too! She was definitely a natural Seeker!

"Ah, don't thank me," Galinda murmured bashfully. "I couldn't just let you... I mean... well... you know..." Galinda twiddled her thumbs before speaking up again. "I'm sorry I've been such a jerk to you," she admitted finally. "I let house pressures get the best of me. I had no right to turn on you the way I did, but I did, and I'm hoping that you might one day be able to forgive me. Or at least be willing to make peace?"

"Done," Elphaba replied the split second after Galinda finished her apology.

"Wh-what?" Galinda was surprised by how quickly Elphaba had agreed to her offer.

"Because you aren't the only one who succumbed to house stereotypes and you aren't the only one with a lot of forgiveness to earn," Elphaba answered with a rueful smile. "And I owe you double for saving my life," she added.

"You don't owe me a thing," Galinda replied, voice just as affectionate and soft. "Friends?" she asked, extending a hand.

"Friends," Elphaba agreed, taking the hand and shaking it happily.

From that day on, although both witches continued to play on their respective Quidditch teams, their banter was far more fun and playful than before and they were always incredibly proud whenever the other did something amazing during a game. It was the first time in Hogwarts history that a Gryffindor would congratulate a Slytherin on a Quidditch win and vice versa. It gained Elphaba and Galinda a lot of distaste from the rest of the student body, but now that they had each other again, neither of them cared in the slightest. Let the other Gryffindors and Slytherins engage in their petty rivalries. They could slander Elphaba and Galinda as detractors to their houses all they wanted, none of that seemed to matter anymore. All that mattered was each other.

"Do you want to play some Quidditch?" Elphaba asked Galinda one day after class.

"Do you have to ask?" Galinda replied with a massive smile.

That evening, in the setting sun, several Hogwarts students could see two brooms flying around the Quidditch pitch, one rider cloaked in red and one in green. Between them, a little golden ball fluttered about in a tizzy. Both of them flew after it, laughing in delight. It was the most fun match either of them had played in quite a long time, but luckily, there were many more to come just like it from that day forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Mostly just Hogwarts Gelphie fluff with a Quidditch backdrop.
> 
> I made Galinda a Seeker because the books say that Seekers are typically the smallest, lightest players and they have a very keen eye. 
> 
> I made Elphaba a Chaser just because it felt too bland and cliché to make her a fellow Seeker. That type of rivalry has already been done (Draco and Harry). Keeper felt too boring for her (I think she would want to be someone out in the field and really flying around) and she's always sounded too lithe and bony to be a Beater. That's not me saying I think she isn't strong enough, I just feel like the descriptions of her build place her as a Chaser. 
> 
> In regard to the Hogwarts houses, I am totally up for debate about that. 
> 
> I've seen a lot of people put Galinda in Hufflepuff and while I see the logic in that, I strongly disagree. In my eyes, Galinda is far more a Slytherin than a Hufflepuff. She is proud, arrogant, haughty, showy, ambitious and a bit deceptive, cunning and manipulative. Good and sweet and cute as she is, Galinda is far too wily and bossy to be a humble Hufflepuff (seriously, Galinda is NOT humble. Even in her lowest moments, she can be quite flashy and fierce). 
> 
> But personality aside, I want Galinda as a Slytherin because we could use some more good, non-stereotypical Slytherins in the world. Just because she likes all things pink and glittery doesn't automatically exclude her from Slytherin house. She doesn't have to be a physically dark character to fit in with other snakes. And just because she becomes "good" doesn't rule her out as a Slytherin either. 
> 
> I've always seen her character as a mix of Slughorn and Regulus Black's. She's the good Slytherin who started off a bit bad and insensitive, but came to realize her mistakes and ultimately became fully good. Her natural sweetness and cuteness do not count her out as a Slytherin, but instead actually allow her to defy house stereotypes and really grow as a person! 
> 
> It's easy to listen to "Popular" and place her as a silly little blond Hufflepuff who just wants to help her friends out, but if you think about it, the lyrics of "Popular" (and other songs she sings) are not always as nice, sweet and innocent as we think. There's a lot of biting truths and cunning remarks in some of Galinda's songs about how to be successful in life and even if she's wrong, it's a very Slytherin way of thinking. Funny and ditzy as Galinda is, she definitely has a mean streak (and it never ever fully goes away, even after Elphaba enters her life and becomes her friend). 
> 
> Similarly, I've seen a lot of people put Elphaba in Ravenclaw. I'm more open to debate for that one. I feel like, in the same way Hermione admitted to tying between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, Elphaba has the same "problem". She has traits of both houses and I can see her doing excellently in either. I mostly only chose Gryffindor for some good old-fashioned Gryffindor/Slytherin fun (again, Draco and Harry). 
> 
> But I can still back up my claim about Elphaba being a good Gryffindor. In book and musical both, she spends her whole life working for equality and social justice (Animal rights stuff). That's a very Gryffindor thing to do. It takes nerve, daring, chivalry, courage and honor to want to stand up for the little guy, and that's exactly what Elphaba does. Though, like I said, I can also easily see her being a Ravenclaw instead. I only just put her in Gryffindor to accent the relationship between her and Galinda.
> 
> But anyway, feel free to discuss what you think about the characters' houses! I'm up for debate!
> 
> (Personally, my house is always torn between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and I've taken multiple tests multiple times over, so I've done my research).


	2. Patronuses

"I guess Umbridge was right. I guess I am nothing but a giant a failure," Elphaba sighed sadly as she and Galinda sat down in defeat, hiding away in the Room of Requirement.

"Oh, Elphie! Is that what all of this is about?" Galinda asked her best friend gently.

"Yes," Elphaba confessed with an unhappy sigh.

"Oh, Elphie! Don't! You simply can't let that fat, ugly, old toad get to you!" the little blond pleaded. She wrapped her arms around Elphaba comfortingly, trying to cheer the green girl back up. It didn't work.

"Galinda! She threatened to fail me if I can't make a Patronus for her by tomorrow and we've been at it for hours!" the Gryffindor cried.

"Well, with her as professor, the grade is worthless anyway!" Galinda tried to joke. It still didn't work.

For a few minutes more, the two witches sat together in silence, one trying to comfort the other. At one point, Galinda even rested her head upon Elphaba's shoulder, still holding her close. As Galinda rested her head on Elphaba's shoulder, however, she noticed something red upon the back of Elphaba's green hand. Galinda narrowed her eyes at once.

"Elphie. What is that?" she demanded. Elphaba, quickly realizing what Galinda had seen, tried to cover up her hand, but to no avail. Instead, Galinda only grabbed Elphaba's arm and forced her hand into the light.

"Merlin's beard!" the little blond exclaimed in disgust and horror. There, carved in the back of Elphaba's hand, were four bloody words: "I must not argue". She dropped Elphaba's hand again, fuming with anger.

"It doesn't hurt much," Elphaba said self-consciously, hiding her hand back in the fold of her robes again.

"Much!" Galinda mocked, voice high-pitched with anger. Then she began to rant and swear, cursing Umbridge's name with every swear word that she could think of. It was a very long and thorough list.

By the end of it, even though Galinda was red in the face from screaming and shoving all those cuss words into one breath, Elphaba was finally smiling again. Perhaps it was a bit selfish to say, but she liked it when Galinda got angry on her behalf. It made her feel loved. And sitting there, watching Galinda get redder and redder as she screamed swear words in about eight different languages, made Elphaba's heart warm and shine like the sun. By the end of it all, even though Galinda was panting, Elphaba felt her confidence return to her.

"You know what?" she asked her friend. "I think I'm ready to try again!" then she raised her wand high...

"You did it!" Galinda cried in awe as a silver swan burst out of the tip of Elphaba's wand. Although she was still panting from the swearing, the shock from seeing a real, fully-formed patronus bursting from Elphaba's wand made her forget how out of breath she was.

"I know, right?" Elphaba laughed in amazement and triumph as the swan continued to soar over their heads.

"But how?" Galinda asked. "What was the memory?" and Elphaba's confident smile turned sheepish as she confessed.

"You," she admitted softly, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Me?" Galinda was stunned. Elphaba nodded shyly in response.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I just thought about you and all of the nice things you've ever done for me. They really are my best memories, and you really are the only friend that I've ever had..."

"Oh! Elphie!" Galinda looked so touched that Elphaba was worried she would start crying. Right before the waterworks could start, however, Galinda hopped up, suddenly eager to try her own patronus now that Elphaba had found her own.

A few seconds later, a giant silver hawk joined the beautiful swan patronus in its flight around the room.

"Congrats!" Elphaba clapped as Galinda admired her handiwork with a satisfied smile.

"I thought about you too," she said, before Elphaba could ask. "I may have had so many friends, but I've only ever had one that truly mattered..."

The next day, as the DADA class finished up, Elphaba remained behind.

"I believe I owe you a patronus," she told Umbridge. It was clear that just speaking to the fat pink toad was a huge strain on her. Not that anyone could disagree. Even quite a few of the Slytherins found Umbridge to be quite unbearable. It was one of the only times when Galinda was not the odd-snake-out. Umbridge seemed to be nearly universally hated across all of Hogwarts and it was the closest thing the four houses had ever come to reaching complete and utter unity. There were still a few Slytherins out there that did like Umbridge but, for once, they were in the minority. Pretty much everyone hated the new DADA professor, and it didn't matter what house anyone was in. This hatred transcended house barriers.

"I do believe you do," Umbridge agreed cheerfully. The moment Galinda heard that too-happy-note in Umbridge's nasally voice, she sat back down. Although she technically wasn't part of this deal between Elphaba and Umbridge, there was no way she was going to leave her hot-headed best friend alone with a monster like Umbridge. Instead, she only observed from the back of the room as Elphaba summoned her patronus.

"And now, how did you learn this spell exactly?" Umbridge asked sweetly as Elphaba's silver swan flew around the room. She pulled out a little glass vial of Veritaserum. In that one question, both Elphaba and Galinda realized that they had been tricked. It was no secret that Umbridge wanted to know where some of her more avid enemies keep hanging out and meeting up. Doubtless, she had realized that Elphaba was among this number and had, likely, practiced her patronus charm in this secret location. With all that Veritaserum at her disposal, it wouldn't be hard for Umbridge to drag a confession about the Room of Requirement out of Elphaba. This was not good...

"I taught her!" Galinda quickly interjected, revealing her presence to both Elphaba and Umbridge. For a moment, anger at being spied upon shot across Umbridge's face, but it was gone faster than it had come and that "pleasant, innocent" smile returned to her flabby face instead.

"Oh, you did? Did you?" she asked conversationally, innocently tapping on her little glass vial and feigning interest in Galinda's remark.

"Yes, I did," Galinda tried to hold her ground. "In the Slytherin commons! The other Slytherins usually ignore us, so we were able to practice there, alone and in peace," she continued to lie, but this was not entirely untrue. Because of that deep-seeded rivalry between the Slytherin and Gryffindor houses, whenever a Gryffindor would enter the Slytherin dormitory, that Gryffindor would be aggressively shunned, as was the case with Elphaba.

Of course, the first time Elphaba had ever entered the Slytherin dorm, nearly every student had tried to attack her and it was only Galinda's intervention that saved her from needing a trip to the hospital wing. From that first visit on, however, the Slytherins typically just ignored her. But this was not out of any grudging respect. They just did not want to anger their little Arduenna-Upland. Galinda had a lot of powerful connections and she had made it all too clear that she would gladly use every single one of them if anyone tried to cross her. Since no one wanted to test those limits, Elphaba was mostly left alone, provided that she stay practically glued to Galinda's side. Not that she wanted to be anywhere else.

So Galinda was not telling a 100% lie when she said that she and Elphaba were able to find a surprising amount of peace and solitude when they went to the Slytherin dorm. But despite Galinda's best efforts, Umbridge managed to see through Galinda's lies. Galinda was not one to go down without a fight, though, and she continued to press Umbridge, begging her to listen. It finally reached a point, though, when Umbridge lost her temper with Galinda and whirled around, slapping the girl hard across the face. Big mistake on her part.

The moment Umbridge's open palm collided with Galinda's cheek and the moment the sound of the slap filled the air, Elphaba entirely blacked out. She didn't remember anything other than a burst of pure anger surging out of her body and she was dimly aware of screaming, but that was all a very vague vision in the back of her mind. All she remembered was that anger, and then Umbridge suddenly being slammed against the wall opposite to where she had been standing. She slumped over at once, the blow from the impact knocking her out like a light.

"Elphie!" Galinda exclaimed, but Elphaba could still only hear her own heartbeat, and Galinda had to physically drag her out of the room.

It wasn't until Elphaba and Galinda were halfway across Hogwarts that Elphaba finally realized what she had done. According to Galinda, she had only opened her mouth to verbally chastise Umbridge for physically hurting a student, but somewhere along the way, her subconscious had also formed a stunning spell and, whether she was aware of it or not, she had stretched out her arm and the moment it was pointed directly at Umbridge, Umbridge had gone flying across the room and slamming right into the back wall of her own class.

"I honestly don't remember," Elphaba vowed as she and Galinda continued to run through the corridors. "But that doesn't matter!" she insisted, eyes hardening again in anger. "She had no right to do that to you!"

"Oh, Elphie! I'll be fine! It's only a little bruise!" Galinda tried to calm Elphaba back down before she blacked out again. "But what about you? You could get into some serious trouble for attacking a teacher!"

"She deserved it!" Elphaba shot back.

"I agree!" Galinda replied. "But others probably won't!" she added, and Elphaba finally calmed back down long enough to see Galinda's point.

Sadly, the girls could do nothing else but wait. In the end, Umbridge managed to regain consciousness (unfortunately) and she wasted no time in gleefully reporting both Elphaba and Galinda to the authorities. She somehow even managed to get the two in on the charge of physical assault of an innocent, and a superior. She wrote them off as delusional, and she said that their motives were pure spite alone. Not a whisper of self-defense could be heard anywhere in her story. And of course, since she had the Ministry all on her side, it didn't take very long for both Elphaba and Galinda to receive a sentence. Because Galinda had technically never harmed Umbridge (and her parents swiftly came to her defense), she was left off only on probation and an in-school suspension. Elphaba, however, was not nearly so lucky. Instead, Umbridge somehow managed to pull the strings such that Elphaba ended up getting herself a ticket straight to Azkaban.

"I hope you're happy!" Umbridge giggled as they dragged Elphaba away. It was only a warning look from Elphaba that kept Galinda from doing anything that would land her in a cell right beside Elphaba's.

Elphaba's sentence wasn't going to be too terribly long. Although Umbridge did manage to get Elphaba in for physical assault, because she was still a minor, the courts were merciful enough to only make the stay a couple weeks long. A couple weeks in Azkaban, though, was no light punishment. Galinda knew this and spent about a week of Elphaba's imprisonment constantly fretting and worrying for her safety. By the end of that first week, Galinda finally snapped, and she did the impossible: she staged a plan to break right into Azkaban and get Elphaba out!

The very next day, through the use of a stolen broomstick and one of her mother's old dresses, Galinda found herself standing at a loading dock at the Ministry of Magic. This dock existed for the sole purpose of taking the occasional few visitors over to Azkaban. It was a "privilege" afforded to a very precious few. Galinda's mother, being an auror, was one of those precious few people. Although it had taken a bit of lying, Galinda managed to convince the person leading the trip over that she, "Larena Arduenna-Upland", was supposed to go and make sure all the Dementors were behaving like they should. It was through the leader's impatience and Galinda's own remarkable resemblance to her mother that allowed Galinda's lie to work. Trying not to look too antsy, she took her place in the lineup headed over to Azkaban, but even though she went over with a larger group, the moment they touched down in the prison's foreboding complex, Galinda took the first chance she could to run.

Having done her research earlier that day, Galinda knew exactly where to find Elphaba.

"Merlin's beard!" the young woman exclaimed in a strange mix of relief and dismay when she finally stumbled upon Elphaba. Although the green girl was alive, she was very far from well. The dark circles under her eyes, the greasiness of her hair, the sallowness of her skin and the extra-bony quality her entire body had taken on was more than enough to prove that. Galinda didn't waste a single second running over to the bars and using her wand to blast open the cell door, and then the chains that shackled Elphaba to the wall. Through it all, though, Elphaba barely even responded. It was like she was already dead, the life and light totally gone out of her being.

"Come on, Elphie! Come on!" Galinda pleaded softly, shaking the green girl gently and trying to pull her up. "We have to go! Now!"

"Why? There's no point. I'll only be sent back in, and my second sentence will be even worse than the first..." the laugh Elphaba gave was so bone-chilling and hollow that Galinda made a vow to herself that she would never have to hear such a broken, despairing and terrifying sound ever again.

"Don't be ridiculous, Elphie!" Galinda redoubled her efforts, giving Elphaba a fierce look. "I'm getting you out of here and, this time, you'll get a fair trial! Umbridge won't be there to speak on your behalf and rig the whole deal against you this time! I'll see to it personally!"

"But I attacked her, Galinda. No matter what you do, I still attacked her. And even if I don't deserve to be in Azkaban for that, Merlin knows I've got a lot of other things worth feeling guilty for..." Elphaba trailed off, eyes gaining a creepy and empty look, seeing and unseeing at the same time.

"No! Elphie! Snap out of it!" Galinda was speaking to herself just as much as she was to Elphaba. "That's just the Dementors talking! It's-!" but the moment Galinda said that, she felt her own blood suddenly run cold. Oh, right. The Dementors.

As if on cue, a ghostly hoard of the monstrous specters began to float down that corridor and towards Elphaba and Galinda. Suddenly growing pale and breaking out in a cold sweat, Galinda redoubled her efforts yet again, but they still yielded no results. Try as she did, Elphaba refused to budge. The chains and cell bars had been nothing compared to her own iron resolve to stay put. They hadn't been lying when they said that the strongest deterrent in Azkaban was not the imprisonment or isolation, but the mind of its own prisoners. Freedom was at hand and Elphaba didn't even see the point in trying to escape!

"Oh! Come on, Elphie! Please!" Galinda begged frantically, finally using her wand to just levitate Elphaba up and force her out of her cell. Elphaba still gave next to no response, grunting in displeasure with Galinda's actions, but making no attempt to stop them. With that, Galinda went tearing down the hallway in the opposite direction of the Dementors. It was her plan to summon up her broom to the other side of the building so that she could secretly fly herself and Elphaba back to the mainland, preferably some place far, far away from the Ministry.

But even though the plan was simple enough and would've actually worked, Galinda still failed. The Dementors did not need speed to catch her. Their mere presence alone was more than enough to do the trick and it didn't take long for Galinda to suffer the same fate as Elphaba, brought to her knees by nothing but sheer despair alone. Collapsing in a fit of panic and unable to see any way out of the situation, Galinda began to weep miserably, accepting a bitter defeat. Standing alone at the edge of Azkaban with only Elphaba's motionless body for company, Galinda half considered throwing herself out of the prison and into the violent, frozen sea below. Behind her and Elphaba, an entire swarm of Dementors were slowly closing in, breath like ice, hissing and merciless. Galinda blacked out then, but not before she thought she saw a silvery bird flying above...

A couple days later, Galinda woke with a start to find herself lying in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. Elphaba was lying in the next bed over. Following a decent amount of confusion, followed by a minor bit of panic, Galinda finally had the situation explained to her.

"They won't take you away again will they?" Galinda asked Elphaba in fear as Elphaba concluded the tale.

"No. Dumbledore, thank Merlin for him, managed to plea on our behalf and gain us a new verdict: innocent," Elphaba replied with a grin. Galinda heaved a huge sigh of relief, collapsing gratefully back into her hospital bed. Her sense of peace did not last long, however, and she sat up again about two seconds later, another question upon her tongue.

"What even happened that day?" she asked. "How did we get out?" and Elphaba's own smile faded into an expression of pain and regret.

"I don't really remember," she confessed. "All I could see or hear or smell or taste or feel was the Dementors. But then, at one point, I remember seeing a silver hawk screeching at them, chasing them away from us. It was your patronus, Galinda, but once I was finally able to come to my own senses, you had lost your own. You were lying facedown on the ground and I was worried that you might've died. Your patronus vanished only seconds later, after all, and I had know way of knowing..." Elphaba trailed off, a haunted and mournful look in her dark brown eyes. It was even more deep and foreboding than the look Galinda had seen when she first made it in to Azkaban to break Elphaba back out.

"Wait, wait, my patronus?" Galinda asked in genuine surprise. "But I don't even remember casting it! Are you really sure it was mine?"

"It was, Ms. Arduenna-Upland, it was," a new voice joined in the conversation. "And I will testify for Ms. Thropp that it was."

"Professor Dumbledore!" both Elphaba and Galinda's faces lit up as the serene old man walked happily into the hospital wing.

"Good morning, ladies," he greeted politely. He took a seat between their beds, addressing them both. "And yes, as I was saying, that was in fact your patronus, Ms. Galinda."

"But how?" Galinda asked, mystified.

"I am sure you have head of wandless and nonverbal magic?" Dumbledore replied. Galinda nodded. "Well then, there is your answer!"

"But how?" Galinda was still unable to believe that an amateur like her would've been able to cast a patronus without a wand or a word, and especially while in such a mentally and emotionally unprepared state. But Dumbledore only continued to swear by it that the patronus had, indeed, belonged to Galinda. No matter how insane it sounded, that tiny little blond had somehow casted a full-blown patronus all on her own.

"I have heard it said that, sometimes, we find our happiest, strongest, bravest moments right before our very darkest," Dumbledore said pensively, but that was all he could think to offer on the matter.

For a moment more, Elphaba and Galinda only sat in silence, trying to absorb all that Dumbledore had said. Once it sank in, however, (or at least, as well as it would ever) Galinda managed to find another question to ask.

"Is it true, sir?" she asked Dumbledore. "Did you really manage to convince the Ministry to let Elphaba go?"

"Yes, indeed I did," Dumbledore answered with a playful little smile. Elphaba and Galinda both thanked him heartily for this, but he waved off their gratitude with a good-natured shrug.

"I simply explained that my students had broken my rules," he said. "But it was all only in the name of self-defense."

"And you got Umbridge to agree to that?" Elphaba sounded incredulous.

"Well, I argued that if my word was not good enough, we could bring one or both of you in for proper questioning. Although I loathe using Veritaserum, I told the Minister that a few drops of it would be able to get the story straight and we would all realize that your actions were not an aggressive outburst as Umbridge had so mistakenly said, but rather, an act of self-defense in reaction to her own little misstep," Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled as he said this. Although it had made him quite disgusted to suggest placing Elphaba and Galinda under the truth-telling serum, it was his best bet to convincing the Minister to set Elphaba free. By suggesting that even under Veritaserum, Elphaba would not tell the tale Umbridge had told, both she and the Minister backed down and decided that trying to keep Elphaba locked away would not be worth the press frenzy it would create. Especially not if Dumbledore's bluff proved true and shed an unsavory light over Umbridge. So instead, they let Elphaba go quietly.

"That's brilliant!" Elphaba and Galinda both laughed as Dumbledore finished his story. Good old Dumbledore! He never missed a trick, that old man! But then it occurred to both of the young witches.

"What will happen now?" they asked. Perhaps the Ministry had agreed to let Elphaba go, but surely she wasn't about to get off totally free.

"I suppose that you will remain here until Madam Pomfrey decides you are well enough to return to your daily lives," Dumbledore replied.

"Wait, you mean, you're not going to punish us?" it was Elphaba who asked the awe-struck question this time.

"Of course not! Why ever would I?" Dumbledore pretended to look confused. "All the charges were dropped. How can I legally punish either of you?" then he gave them both another playful wink before standing back up and taking leave of the hospital wing, giving both Elphaba and Galinda each one more respectful farewell before going.

"Thank Merlin for him!" Elphaba murmured as she and Galinda watched Dumbledore disappear back down the hallway away from the hospital wing. Galinda nodded in agreement before heaving another sigh of relief. This time, when she lowered herself back down onto her bed, she did not sit back up any time soon.

The next day, however, both Elphaba and Galinda were deemed to have made a full recovery and they were both sent on their way. All of the students and staff who had heard the story of the brave young witches who were able to circumvent Umbridge's punishment immediately lauded them as heroes as soon as they were released from the hospital. Even better than this newfound fame and approval from about 75% of the school, however, was the fact that Umbridge, herself, had grown extremely quiet around the two girls. Although it was still very clear she loathed them with every fiber of her being, she was far less vocal about it than before. This was a massive bonus in Elphaba and Galinda's eyes. But perhaps the best thing of all was the fact that Elphaba and Galinda both officially knew how to make patronuses. Now, if one looked carefully enough, on particularly dark and starry nights, they might see a silver hawk and a silver swan, dancing through the heavens together. Down below on the ground, the two casters would be doing the exact same thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Just wanted to imagine what Elphaba and Galinda's patronuses would be. Because Elphaba's happiest memory is Galinda, her patronus would definitely be a swan (and Galinda is like a swan not just because she is beautiful and graceful but because she can be pretty terrifying when she feels angry or threatened. Seriously. Have you ever seen angry swan? It's terrifying). And vice versa. Since Elphaba is Galinda's happiest memory, Galinda's patronus would be a hawk (several times in the book, Elphaba is described as being hawk-like).
> 
> Personally, I feel like my patronus would be a panda because they are the CUTEST animals EVER, and nothing makes me happier than they do. (I disagree with my Pottermore Patronus test results, so I still think mine would be a panda). IDK what my happiest memory would be though. That's a tough question.


	3. Boggart

"Are you all ready to face your greatest fears?" Lupin asked his class with a wicked little smile. Every head bobbed up and down in a nervous sort of excitement. "Alrighty then!" Lupin opened up the door to the wardrobe sitting in the middle of the classroom. Right before anything emerged, he pointed his wand at Fiyero.

"Tigelaar! You're up first!" then he stepped away from the wardrobe while Fiyero blanched and took a step towards it. He tripped over his scarlet robes as he made his way over to the wardrobe. For a moment, there was only silence, then the very strict, stern figure of Professor McGonagall.

"Mr. Tigelaar!" her voice was sharp and harsh as she addressed Fiyero and, on reflex, he let out a yelp of fear before straightening his back, leveling his chin, and forcing his own eyes to meet hers. "You will write me a 10-page paper by tomorrow regarding the history of the discovery of animagi and if you do not complete this task, you will fail my class and I shall sentence you to an entire year of detention with me!"

"Riddikulus!" Fiyero yelped, brandishing his wand at the McGonagall boggart. This did nothing except make her angrier.

"I mean it, Mr. Tigelaar!" she warned, eyes flashing dangerously. "And even if you are expelled or drop out, you will still be legally obligated to serve detention with me, or you will be sent to Azkaban!"

"Be brave, Fiyero!" Lupin cried out to the terrified Winkie prince.

"Yes sir!" Fiyero replied, then he did his best to calm his nerves, ignoring McGonagall's continued threats. After taking one last deep breath in, he shouted out the incantation one more time and-

"YOWCH!" McGonagall gave a very undignified and cat-like screech as a firecracker suddenly went off underneath her foot. This sent her sprint-waddling back into the wardrobe in a very comical manner, a hailstorm of laughter following her back.

"Well done, my boy! Well done!" Lupin encouraged as Fieryo gave a satisfied smirk. Now that he had conquered his fear, his arrogance had returned in full blast and he took a dramatic bow before his fellow classmates before stepping back into the crowd, clearly quite proud of himself.

"What an arrogant, smug little-" from the back of the room, Elphaba was grumbling under her breath. Her little sister, Nessarose, responded by touching her arm and giving her a soft warning to behave. Immediately, Elphaba fell silent, but she continued to glare daggers at the stupid little Winkie prince. It made her green skin crawl to think that they shared a house!

"Boq! You're up next!" at the front of the class, Lupin enthusiastically waved the next student forward.

"Me?" the tiny Ravenclaw squeaked. Lupin smiled warmly and nodded at him. Boq gave another nervous little whimper, but he waddled up to the wardrobe nonetheless, tugging nervously on his blue robes as the door slowly opened. What came out was a creature far too big to fit in that wardrobe. It was a monstrosity! A giant! A behemoth! It was like a lion or a griffin, but twice as large! It looked like something Hagrid might've tried to keep in his back yard. Boq gave another terrified yelp as a giant, clawed foot raised itself over his little head.

"Riddikulus!" Boq shrieked, closing his eyes and pointing his wand bravely at his boggart.

"Oh! He's so cute!" it was the soft shrill of another student that first brought Boq back to his senses. He opened his eyes again and...

"Awww!" Boq couldn't help but agree. The giant griffin monster had suddenly been shrunken down to something the size of a puppy. It was even tinier than he was! Now this was a creature Boq would keep in his backyard. The tiny little thing gave a high-pitched wheeze of embarrassment before scuttling back inside the wardrobe, the door slamming behind it as it retreated.

"Bravo! Excellent!" Lupin clapped. Boq gave his own sheepish little bow to the class before stumbling back onto the sidelines, looking a bit flustered, but rather pleased with himself. Both the Thropp sisters, Elphaba and Nessa, smiled broadly at him, giving him a thumbs up.

"Nessarose Thropp?" speaking of which, one of the Thropp sisters was about to go up. Elphaba's proud smile instantly vanished into a look of concern and she shot a hand out to touch the armrest of Nessa's wheelchair.

"Let go of me, Elphaba, I'll be fine!" Nessa growled under her breath, her own smile fading the moment she felt Elphaba try to stop her. Older sister or not, sisterly duty or not, Elphaba needed to lighten up and stop being so overbearing! How was Nessa ever supposed to make a life for herself if Elphaba was always right there, breathing down her neck and whining about every little thing she did?

"But I-" Elphaba tried to explain that she only wanted to look out for Nessa, but Nessa didn't want to hear it. Instead, the young Slytherin rolled her wheelchair sharply away from Elphaba and right up close to the wardrobe. There was a look of defiance in her eyes.

"Come on!" she told Lupin. "I'm ready!" and he obliged by opening the wardrobe door.

Suddenly, an entire crowd of people came pouring out of the wardrobe. The number of people in the wardrobe was twice as large as the number of people in the classroom. It didn't take long for Nessa to become lost in a literal sea of people, all moving around and jostling her, each of them seeming to tower over her because she was trapped in a wheelchair, which always instantly diminished her physical size anywhere she went.

"Nessa!" Elphaba cried out and took a step forward towards the crowd that was crushing her sister, but before she could unsheathe her wand, Lupin put out a hand to stop her. Although he appreciated the love she felt for her little sister, she had to let Nessa fight her own battles.

"She needs to do this alone," he cautioned the older Thropp sister and she, reluctantly, stepped down.

This proved to be a wise decision in the long run because, only a few seconds later, the entire large crowd suddenly separated, creating a space just the right size for Nessa to roll through. As she passed on by the parted group of people, they all shouted out adoringly to her, cheering her on in delight. She basked in the praise before raising her arms for silence, then she gestured for them to return to the wardrobe and, without further protestation of any kind, every last person that the boggart had transformed into returned to the wardrobe immediately.

"Piece of cake!" Nessa laughed charmingly before wheeling her way back over to Elphaba with a smug grin.

"Wow," Lupin was impressed. The wide eyes and mouths of all of his students made it clear that they felt the same.

Next, it was time for the other Thropp sister to have a whirl. Elphaba strode over to the wardrobe bravely, but the thing that came out of it made her flinch. To be fair, though, it made everyone else flinch as well. It was a giant tidal wave, roaring and powerful, stretching from floor to ceiling and threatening to drown the entire classroom. Elphaba, however, gained her bearings very quickly, and with all the strength and courage of a true Gryffindor, she cleared her throat and shouted out the incantation:

"Riddikulus!" then the giant tidal wave vanished at once, turning into mist that dissipated only half a second later.

"Wow," Lupin repeated, once again impressed by the raw magical talent and power the Thropp sisters both showed. They were naturals! And Elphaba seemed to be especially powerful, for he had expected her only to turn the tidal wave around and have it roll right back into the wardrobe. Instead, however, she had vanquished it entirely, causing it to evaporate right out of existence. That was impressive!

The whole class laughed and clapped, cheering Elphaba on genuinely. Unused to such a warm response from her peers, the green-skinned Gryffindor blushed a dark black and gave a shy little bow, but to the one student who was cheering the hardest, Elphaba only smiled. It was Galinda Arduenna-Upland. A Slytherin. Yes. Somehow, against all odds, that little blond Slytherin had become this green-skinned Gryffindor's very best friend. Now she stood towards the front of the classroom, cheering herself hoarse over Elphaba's amazing accomplishment.

"WOO HOO! WAY TO GO ELPHIE!" she shouted and Elphaba, without fear or hesitation, strode right over to her to accept the victory hug that Galinda was offering. Once they were locked in an embrace, Galinda shyly snuck a kiss to Elphaba's cheek as well and Elphaba's blush grew even darker. Although she adored the praise that her classmates were still drowning her in, that one little kiss from Galinda meant more to her than any praise in all the world ever could. She even giggled a little, which was how it became obvious that Elphaba was head over heels, and she reveled in the feeling of Galinda's arms wrapped around her body.

A foot away, Lupin watched the two witches hug it out. A bittersweet smile stretched across his face. Although he had been a Gryffindor back in the day and had, thusly, been opposed to pretty much every Slytherin he'd ever met, seeing Elphaba and Galinda hug it out so sincerely made his heart melt. This was true friendship, this was true unity, this was Hogwarts was supposed to be all about, this was what the world was supposed to try and strive for, this was the level of nonjudgmental, nonprejudiced love and support that the world was supposed to crave, this was true love. And Lupin had seen the little kiss Galinda tried to sneak onto Elphaba's cheek. He laughed a little when he saw it.

"Ahhh, young love," he said to himself, and it felt all the sweeter to him just because of the miracle of the fact that one of them was a Gryffindor and the other was a Slytherin. There was just something so powerful and inspiring about their love story.

But that reminded him! The young Slytherin, Galinda, had not battled the boggart! She would've been next, had Elphaba not accidently killed the creature. It was with much regret and embarrassment that Lupin had to interject upon the two girls' exchange of affection.

"Ms. Galinda!" he said.

"Yes, Professor Lupin?" Galinda turned around, reluctantly releasing her hold on Elphaba. Elphaba, however, continued to cling to her waist.

"It just occurred to me that you did not get the chance to battle the boggart today," Lupin replied.

"Ah, that's alright sir! I don't mind missing out," Galinda replied with a joking smile. Lupin laughed despite himself. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but think that this was how all Slytherins should behave, and he cursed himself for having ever even once doubted her character because, admittedly, the first time she stepped into his classroom, he assumed that she would've been just as bad as all the rest. She had since proven him very, very wrong, and he was grateful for that.

"Nice try, Galinda," he replied with the same joking tone. "But you aren't going to get out of it that easily. Just swing by my office some time later today. I promise it won't take long!"

"If you insist," Galinda pretended to sigh unhappily, but Lupin could see the smile in her eyes.

"I insist," he replied with a smile all his own, so Galinda agreed to the terms of his offer.

A mere 10 minutes after dinner, Galinda came knocking on Lupin's door.

"Are you ready?" he asked as he let her in. A new wardrobe was waiting for her inside.

"I think," she tugged at her green robes before approaching the wardrobe with her wand raised. Lupin gave her an encouraging smile before throwing open the door. They were both met with a hailstorm of insults, cold and cruel as ice.

"Ugly! Freak! Loser! Uncool! Un-popular! Unlovable!" but the slew of insults was not the worst thing to come out of that closet that evening. After a few seconds of the bodiless voice screaming insults at Galinda, a figure finally stepped out of the wardrobe.

"Elphie?" and so it was. She and Lupin would know that green skin anywhere.

"Ugh! Don't call me that!" Elphaba hissed in disgust, crossing her arms and sneering down her nose at Galinda. "Honestly! It's such a stupid, ugly little nickname. Couldn't you have come up with anything better? Or are you really that stupid?" Elphaba began to laugh cruelly, her laugh seeming to fill the entire room. Galinda looked mortified. She took a step back.

"I-I-I," she stuttered.

"I-I-I," Elphaba mocked, pretending to look just as hurt and afraid as Galinda. But then her expression snapped back into the same nasty one it used to be in. "Merlin's beard! You sound like such a little baby! Stuttering and whining all the time! No wonder you haven't got any real friends! Who would ever want to stick around with someone like you?!"

"Elphie," Galinda whimpered again, lip quivering.

"Galinda!" Lupin finally interceded. "It's not real! That's not Elphaba! It's a boggart!" but Galinda didn't seem to hear him. All she could hear was her boggart, hurtling insults and cruel remarks about her character at her.

"GALINDA! WAKE UP! THAT'S NOT ME!" a new voice suddenly joined in the fray. There, standing in the doorway to Lupin's office, was Elphaba herself. She had come by to watch Galinda fight her boggart. Seeing her own reflection had been the last thing she ever expected to see. At last, though, Galinda seemed to hear someone other than the boggart.

"Elphie?" she turned around in confusion, eyes swimming with tears. But even through her tears, she could make out a green figure standing in the doorway. That was enough of a jolt to get her to begin to realize that the Elphaba standing in front of her was not the real Elphaba at all.

A few seconds later, Galinda's grief had turned into sheer anger and she did not hesitate to raise her wand again and shout.

"Riddikulus!" and she sent the Elphaba-boggart flying back into the wardrobe, where she landed with hard crash as she made impact with the back wall of the wardrobe. A second crash followed not soon after as Galinda used another spell to slam and lock the wardrobe shut. Then she burst into tears. Lupin awkwardly excused himself while Elphaba took his place at Galinda's side, rushing over to comfort the crying girl, taking her in her arms and soothing her with gentle words of love and affirmation.

"Hey, hey, shhh, shhhh, shhh, it's ok, it's ok," the green girl muttered as she cradled Galinda in her arms. For a moment more, Galinda could only stand there and weep, but finally, the feeling of Elphaba's arms wrapped around her shaking body managed to calm her down enough for her to be able to speak clearly and focus on the situation at hand.

"Oh Elphie! I'm sorry you had to see that!" Galinda sniffled.

"Hey, shhh, this wasn't your fault!" Elphaba soothed. "Don't apologize! I don't mind it! And you're not weak," she added firmly. "You're human. And like any human, you have fears! Please don't feel bad about it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you."

"But the fear! It was so stupid!" Galinda sobbed.

"But it was also real," Elphaba countered fiercely. "Stupid or not, ever fear has its merit and its realness. It wouldn't be a fear if it didn't!"

Elphaba continued to try and talk Galinda down for the next few minutes, soothing her and hugging her close. At last, however, Galinda finally managed to come back around. Though she and Elphaba were still both a little shaken by what they had seen today, both of them had come out stronger because of it and now? Well...

"I'm hungry," Galinda said.

"But we just ate dinner!" Elphaba laughed a little. Galinda pouted. "Ok, fine, I think I have some sweets back in my room," Elphaba sighed.

"Yay!" Galinda giggled, and Elphaba rolled her eyes fondly as she escorted Galinda out of the room and away from that awful little wardrobe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Just wanted to see what everyone's boggart would be (and of course we got that Gelphie fluff in there too). Mine would probably be a spider. Like Ron, I had severe arachnophobia. Either that, or it would just be a creepy face/image. Something you'd see on a Creepypasta or SCP story or the Dark Web. 
> 
> Also, tell me what you think about the houses I put everyone in. I nearly put Fiyero in Ravenclaw as a foreshadowing to what he would be like once he became the Scarecrow, but that felt too obvious. 
> 
> I also nearly put Boq in Hufflepuff, but even though I think that would be a good house for him for multiple reasons, his book incarnation seemed highly Ravenclaw (openly accepting and supportive of Elphaba and her research with Animals, and a worker at the Shiz library). 
> 
> Nessa was a bit trickier. She doesn't seem too Slytherin-ish ever (except for MAYBE when she takes over Munchkinland), but she doesn't really scream "Gryffindor" "Hufflepuff" or "Ravenclaw" either. I guess my ultimate factor for making her a Slytherin is the fact that she does have some large ambitions (winning Boq's heart no matter what) and she can be quite manipulative and resourceful (the girl's stuck in a wheelchair, of course she'll be adaptive and cunning). And she has always seemed a bit haughty, though this could be just because she hates being seen as a burden because of her chair, so she tries to be more independent and overcompensates by being a jerk to Elphaba. 
> 
> Anyway, more house discussion! (And Boggart discussion too, if you like).


	4. Mystery Potion

Elphaba sighed in annoyance. For the last half hour, she'd been busily working upon a potion that she was supposed to be able to identify through smell, but she couldn't smell a thing! She'd added every ingredient in the correct order and correct amount, but nothing! Not a single whiff of anything! Except maybe her potion partner's overbearing fruit-scented perfume...

"Galinda, tell me again how I'm supposed to be able to identify this scented mystery potion when you've decided to bathe in that stupid perfume of yours!" the green girl demanded of her potions partner.

"First of all, I did not 'bathe' in it. As any good perfume-wearer will tell you, you're only supposed to apply a few delicate squirts to your pulse points and/or hair! Only stupid little try-hards douse themselves in their smells!" Galinda replied, sticking her nose up in the air, highly offended that Elphaba would even dare suggest that Galinda did not know the proper perfume-adding technique. "Second of all, I intentionally wore less perfume today because I knew we'd be making this sort of potion! So whatever it is you're smelling, it's not me!" she huffed.

Elphaba only rolled her eyes in reply. Though she had to admit that Galinda's second remark about not wearing too much perfume today surprised her, that still didn't help the matter at hand: identifying the mystery potion.

"I just wanted to rub Snape's big fat nose in it," Elphaba complained as she threw her hands up in defeat. Seeing the genuinely frustrated and disappointed look upon her green face, Galinda's own relaxed a little.

"Oh, don't worry, Elphie," the little Slytherin tried to soothe her friend. "Class is only half over! We still have plenty of time to try and catch a scent!" but Galinda's words did little to soothe Elphaba's ego. Although she had been sorted into Gryffindor, Elphaba still had all the intelligence and intellectual pride of a Ravenclaw and any time she found herself unable to measure up to a task at hand, especially one involving wit and intellectual skill, she took it very hard and very personally. So while Galinda tried to soothe Elphaba, Elphaba only gave another frustrated sigh before turning a critical eye back to their potions text book. Maybe they had forgotten something?

But the rest of class passed on and neither Elphaba nor Galinda managed to discern even the smallest of smells. Frustrated and nervous as the number of peers who turned in their answers increased by the second, Elphaba and Galinda could only exchange helpless glances before trying to sniff other cauldrons just in case maybe someone else managed to make something work. Still nothing.

"Could it be our noses?" Galinda wondered after she finished trying to sniff her eighth cauldron. Elphaba didn't get a chance to reply, however, because Snape interjected himself into the conversation with a sickening sneer and an impossibly low and nasty drawl.

"It seems to me that Ms. Thropp and Ms. Arduenna-Upland have yet to turn in their potions work," he said. "Perhaps if I remind you that this assignment will be used for a larger project next week, that will act as adequate incentive for you to do your work!" although his voice was soft, it seemed to fill the entire dungeon in which they were working and every student, regardless of house, turned to them and snickered cruelly.

"Perhaps if I remind you that murder is illegal, that will act as adequate incentive for you to leave us alone!" Elphaba growled under her breath.

"Elphie!" Galinda warned, touching the green girl's arm pleadingly. Although even Galinda had to admit that Snape was a horrible excuse for a human being, that didn't mean she wanted to confront him head-on about his issues. And she especially didn't want to see Elphaba try, because that would likely end with someone getting killed. Or worse! Expelled...

But even though Elphaba had only whispered her snide remark and even though Galinda had calmed her down a mere second later, Snape still seemed to have heard the insult because he rose from his place at the desk in front of the class and glided down the aisle of desks until he reached the one that Elphaba and Galinda were standing at. Elphaba narrowed her eyes while Galinda smiled nervously and looked away.

"Well? Can you identify it?" Snape challenged Elphaba coldly. Immediately, Elphaba felt torn in half. On the one hand, she did not want to lie and look silly by guessing wrong, but on the other, it went against everything in her nature to allow a big, fat, bully like Snape just mock and deride her for no good reason. She reluctantly put her face closer to her cauldron once again and took a sniff. Still nothing.

When she gave no verbal reply, Snape gave her a sickening smile.

"It seems that Ms. Thropp's beaky nose is not suited for the job," he remarked slyly. Then he whipped around to Galinda. "Perhaps Ms. Arduenna-Upland will prove me wrong, but I doubt she will," he crossed his arms with a smug smile and leered down at the trembling blond.

"Oh, Merlin's beard!" she whimpered to herself. Even though she, herself, was a pureblood witch and a Slytherin, because of her close ties with Elphaba (a muggle-born and a Gryffindor), none of the perks or privileges of being a Slytherin were afforded to her, and she could find no lenience with Snape at all. He would not forgive her for siding with a Gryffindor and he refused to treat her the same way he would treat other Slytherins. Galinda did not necessarily mind this loss of privilege, but it did make moments like this far harder on her emotional state than they should've been.

Seeing Galinda shake, Elphaba spoke up again, swift to come to her friend's defense.

"Hey!" she interrupted, drawing Snape's cruel gaze back to herself and away from Galinda. "A beaky nose is no good for smelling potions because it is thin! We need something bigger, and more bulbous! We need something that can really hold the stenches in. Why don't you give it a go, professor?" she demanded. The entire classroom gasped audibly. Though seeing a Gryffindor pick a fight with Snape (especially if that Gryffindor was Elphaba) was far from rare, seeing that Gryffindor being so outspoken definitely was. Even the brashest of lions treaded carefully around the head of the snake house. Today, however, Elphaba was plowing right on through, roaring as loud as she could. Galinda blanched again, but this time, it wasn't for her own safety, it was for Elphaba's. Yup, someone was definitely going to end up dead today...

While the rest of the class stared at Elphaba, mouths and eyes all opened impossibly wide, Snape clenched his own teeth tight. His nails dug into his palms as he stared down at the green-skinned Gryffindor with an unspeakable rage and hatred. He really did want nothing more than to blast the ugly little green bean into oblivion, but alas, that was against Hogwarts policy, and as his teaching post here at Hogwarts was the result of a debt he owed to the headmaster, he couldn't exactly afford to be kicked off the staff. Instead, he only swallowed down the burning rage biting at his throat and addressed her with that same eerily calm tone as always, even though it was clear to everyone in the room that an unadulterated loathing was bubbling just beneath the surface of his soft-spoken words.

"I would, if this weren't a student assignment," he hissed. "But alas, it is, and therefore, you must be the one to identify the potion. If you desire to keep your grade in this class, that is... And I trust you know the difference between a student and a professor, Ms. Thropp?"

"Of course," Elphaba replied, tone just as sinister as Snape's. "A student comes to learn from the professor, who is already adept in the subject."

"Then why, Ms. Thropp, do you insist that I help you with your assignment?" Snape asked back frostily.

"Because you certainly don't act like a professor," Elphaba said. "Out of all the professors I've had here at Hogwarts, you are the most immature and unprofessional. You refuse to accept the fact that students will not always perform perfectly, and you show a painfully blatant favoritism of the Slytherin house. It is not only deeply disrespectful to the student body, but it gives a very bad name to all the other, good professors of Hogwarts. Such prejudice and shortsighted temper is the mark of someone who is incredibly arrogant and ignorant. I trust you know what an arrogant, ignorant person is, Professor Snape?"

Once again, the entire room went into shock. Never had anyone ever been so sharp, biting or thorough in their complaint against Snape. No Gryffindor before in the history of Snape's teaching career here at Hogwarts had ever managed to be so over-the-top, yet also so calm, quiet, dignified and eloquent. Not even once did Elphaba's voice raise above a whisper, but she managed to get every single little last thing out to Snape that she wanted to, and when she was done, she gave him a darkly satisfied smirk. Beside her, Galinda looked seconds away from fainting.

"Of course I know," Snape replied. Although he had nearly gone blind with fury, he managed to still speak in a tone as civil and quiet as Elphaba. "I am looking at a prime example right now," his lip curled in triumph as he gestured rudely to Elphaba.

"How so?" Elphaba replied, not even missing a beat. "You haven't got a mirror."

Finally, then, the entire classroom erupted into sound. This remark from Elphaba had been the killing blow, the last word, the coup de gras. No more could possibly be said in response and that was how the student body knew it was finally ok to riot. Where they once had all been like statues, watching the little showdown with bated breath and wide eyes, they had suddenly come to life in a hailstorm of screaming, laughing, cheering, jeering and pointing. The Slytherins all booed and hissed Elphaba while the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws cheered her on, chanting her name and lauding her for her quick wit and daring nerve. Even Galinda finally looked a bit more comfortable, putting a relieved hand on Elphaba's arm that they all, somehow, had managed to survive this potions class. She was the only Slytherin who looked happy for Elphaba. Elphaba smiled back at her, Galinda's silent gesture of praise meaning far more than any of the other screamers in the dungeon.

But although Elphaba had gotten the last word, she had not gotten the last action. In the end, that round went to Snape. Not only did he remove 50 points from Gryffindor house (though, for once, none of the Gryffindors were at all mad about that) but he also failed Elphaba for the present assignment and all the ones to come that would have relied upon what she learned today. This meant she had managed to get a 0 on the next five assignments. She failed the entire next week. But, like the Gryffindors, for once, she wasn't mad at all.

"It was well worth it," Elphaba promised as she received her failing grade with a smile. "Besides, I've padded my grade enough that I'll still pass."

"That's only if you can stay out of trouble for the rest of the semester," Galinda replied with a guilty laugh. Perhaps Snape did not see her as a true Slytherin due to her ties with Elphaba, but he did show her a bit of mercy and he allowed her to pass. She still, technically, had no clue what the mystery potion had been, but Snape insisted that he did not want a bright young mind like hers to be dragged down by a sour, sallow, bitter thing like Elphaba, so while Galinda received a passing grade, Elphaba did not. Elphaba hadn't been bothered at all by this.

"To be quite honest, I still wish I knew what the mystery potion was," Elphaba confessed as she and Galinda cleaned up their station.

"I don't know, Elphie," Galinda said in earnest. "I went around, trying to catch a whiff of other cauldrons, but I couldn't smell anything!"

"Not a thing?" Elphaba asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Not a thing!" Galinda echoed. "I mean, aside from the usual mold of the dungeon," she added, then she began to list off other commonplace smells that she had picked up on during the lesson. "I could smell the frog legs, the smell of the fire used to boil our potions, the oil you use to wash, that smelly kid who works right behind us and probably hasn't showered in a week, the bug juice that the other girl spilled earlier today..." on and on Galinda tried to list every possible smell she could remember, but not a single one pointed to a particular potion.

"Wait!" Elphaba interrupted. "Did you say that you could smell my bathing oil?"

"Yes?" Galinda asked. "Does that surprise you? I mean, I was wondering why it was so strong today, especially since you knew that we'd be making this potion today, but I wasn't going to complain," she said. "It smells nice, I promise!"

"No, no, no, it's not that," Elphaba shook her head. "It's just, I did the same thing you did with the perfume, I tried to wear less today than normal!"

"Less that normal?" Galinda looked mystified. "To me, it smelled stronger than normal!"

It was in that moment that Elphaba realized she knew exactly what the potion was. While Galinda continued to puzzle and muse, still clearly lost, Elphaba suddenly blushed a dark green and swallowed nervously. She scooted away from Galinda and riffled through her potions book until she found the page containing the answer to today's question. She marked it with another stray piece of parchment she found sitting on an empty desk before shoving the book at Galinda.

"I know what the answer is and I've just marked that page!" she cried, the whole sentence coming out as one long word.

"What?" Galinda asked, it taking her a few seconds to process Elphaba's remark.

"It's why I smelled your perfume so much today, and maybe why you smelled-" but Elphaba didn't even finish her sentence before bolting.

"What?" Galinda repeated, confused as to what could've changed Elphaba's mood so drastically. She shook her head with a puzzled expression before opening the book to the page Elphaba had marked.

"Amortentia," Galinda read slowly. "Amortenia is the most powerful love potion in the world. It is distinctive for its mother-of-pearl sheen, and steam rises from the potion in spirals. Amortentia smells different to each person, according to what attracts them... Oh..." Galinda looked up from the potions book, but Elphaba was long-gone already. Suddenly, Galinda was blushing just as hotly as Elphaba had been, and she spent the whole rest of the day thinking about that mystery potion, and the smell that attracted her the most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Based off a JamesXLily Tumblr prompt that said that there was a day at Hogwarts in which James and Lily were potions partners and they could not identify the Amortenia potion because all James could smell was Lily's perfume and all Lily could smell was James' cologne, never mind the fact that neither of them had worn perfume or cologne that day...


	5. Taste Testing

Elphaba and Galinda returned from Hogsmeade with boatloads of sweets between them.

"C'mon! C'mon! Hurry!" Galinda shifted the weight of the load of their candies more into her arms and tried to drag Elphaba along.

"Alright, hold on, I'm coming! I'm trying!" Elphaba muttered, nearly tripping over her own feet as she ran after Galinda. The two of them were headed to a quieter part of the kitchens in order to taste-test these sweets together. Because they were in different Hogwarts houses, going to a dorm was not really an option, but the kitchen was always open! They just had to get there without being caught first...

"Alright! We're in!" Galinda cheered as Elphaba used a quick spell to unlock the kitchen door. They scuttled right on in, nestling down in a corner near a gently burning fire. They set their large back of sugar down in relief and Galinda practically dove inside, reaching for anything her manicured nails could find. There was excitement in her azure eyes and it was mirrored in Elphaba's own dark brown orbs. Stoic though she was, even she was not above sugary confections.

"Here! Try this!" Galinda handed Elphaba a green lollipop.

"Oh, very funny," Elphaba muttered, but she took the green treat anyway. Five licks later, she was hissing, and she threw the candy right back into Galinda's lap. Normally, this would've disgusted Galinda beyond words, but Elphaba's repulsed face as she rubbed her tongue was too funny.

"Acid pops!" the little blond laughed wickedly. "The burn will last at least the rest of the day!"

"You little snake!" Elphaba spat back, still rubbing her numb tongue. Galinda only gave a flattered look.

"I'm glad you think so! It's nice to know I'm living up to the standards!" she joked, hand brushing across the little green snake on her robe.

"I'm moving on to chocolate," Elphaba shook her head. Once her tongue finally started responding again, she began to riffle through the bag of goodies. Suddenly, then, she got an idea...

"Here," she said, handing a chocolate lump to Galinda. She took one for herself and popped it into her mouth. Galinda, suspecting no danger, did likewise, but while Elphaba only held the candy in her mouth, Galinda bit down. There was a large crunch that didn't sound like nuts or sprinkles and Galinda felt something hard and smooth, tingled with little spiky things. Without even flinching, she slowly took the chocolate from her mouth.

"Elphie. What is this?" her voice was deadly soft as Elphaba spat her own candy back out, not a single bite-mark in it at all.

"Cockroach cluster," the green girl shrugged casually. Still no reaction from Galinda. Galinda slowly turned the broken piece of chocolate over in her hand. Sure enough, there was half a body and a few little legs sticking out of the candy.

After 10 minutes of Galinda freaking out loud enough for all of Hogwarts to hear, cursing Elphaba's name and throwing every cockroach cluster in the bag into the fire, Elphaba and Galinda found themselves in a slightly chillier, roomier, empty classroom. Galinda's fit had caused a stir in the kitchen and the two had been forced to flee.

"Now, where were we again?" Elphaba asked pleasantly, having shoved two of the desks together.

"I was about to fry you for that dirty trick," Galinda replied, still scowling, drawing her wand out. Even though she and Elphaba had nearly been caught by the kitchen staff, Galinda was too miffed to be that worried.

"Oh, lighten up, it was just a bit of fun!" Elphaba snickered.

"I'm slipping melted acid pop into all of your drinks for the rest of this month," Galinda replied, still scowling, but she did lean over their bag of remaining candies, willing to let this little spat die, even if only for a little while.

Taste testing became a bit more serious after that.

"Fizzing Whizbees?" Galinda mumbled as she picked up another candy. She put it in her mouth and squinted.

"Is it good?" Elphaba asked, seeing Galinda's face scrunch up.

"Tastes like sherbet, and it certainly lives up to its- woah!" Galinda had been halfway through describing the flavor when she suddenly found herself floating upward, right out of her chair.

"Oh, wicked!" Elphaba's jaw dropped as Galinda hung in the air, suspended by magic alone. She wasted no time in devouring her own Fizzing Whizbee and she joined Galinda up in the air. They didn't float more than half a foot off the ground, but there was still such a thrill about being airborne that both witches began to laugh in delight and swim happily through the air. It was with great reluctance that they felt the effects of the candy wear off, forced to return back to the ground.

The next candies they tried taste testing were a bit more typical, things like Licorice Wands, Pumpkin Pasties, Drooble Gum, Cauldron Cakes, Butterbeer and Chocolate Frogs.

"I got Dumbledore again," Galinda sighed as she opened her frog.

"And I got someone named Nicholas Flamel," Elphaba said as she opened her own frog.

"You did?!" Galinda jerked her head up from her card to look over at Elphaba's.

"Yeah," Elphaba showed the card to Galinda.

"Oh! I've been looking for him for so long!" Galinda's eyes gleamed as she reached out for the card.

"Hey, hey now! He's mine!" Elphaba warned, yanking the card back. "I've started collecting these guys and I need Nick too!" she insisted. Galinda visibly deflated, but only five seconds after she began pouting, Elphaba laughed.

"I'm just teasing," she said. "You can have it," she extended the card back out to Galinda and, this time, let the little blond take it.

"Oh! Thank you so much, Elphie!" Galinda squealed in delight, quickly sliding the card into the folds of her robes.

"I still don't see why this brings you so much pleasure," Elphaba remarked in amusement, but she cast no further judgment. Instead, her eyes turned back to their little bag of candy. It was running low, but there were still a few more treats inside.

"And best for last!" Elphaba murmured once she and Galinda finally reached their very last candy. Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor Beans.

"I dare you to try a green one," Galinda said the moment Elphaba pulled the little box out of their candy bag. Elphaba obliged.

"Hmmm, tastes like a granny smith apple," Elphaba murmured as she devoured the little green bean.

"How fitting," Galinda remarked dryly.

"Oh shut up," Elphaba said good-naturedly. "Why don't you try a couple pink beans, eh?"

"You're on," Galinda replied, then she poured some of the beans out of their little box, picking out the pink ones. Four rested upon her palm.

"I dare you to eat them all one right after the other," Elphaba said wickedly.

"What? Are you insane?" Galinda snorted.

"What? Are you scared?" Elphaba replied.

"No!" Galinda's pride was so quickly wounded that she didn't even allow Elphaba to respond before she started eating the beans. Each one only took one bite to devour. Four bites was all she needed, and four different expressions crossed her face all at once.

"What did they taste like?" Elphaba asked eagerly.

"Bubble gum... scabs... strawberries... and pencil erasers!" Galinda looked disgusted.

"Ha, ha, sucks to be you!" Elphaba taunted.

"Oh, shut up," Galinda pretended to scowl. She picked up a black bean and gave Elphaba a suggestive look. Elphaba didn't even flinch or hesitate as she took the bean from Galinda and tossed it right into her mouth.

But Galinda flinched, a little put off by how quick Elphaba had been to take up her dare. It was a bold thing to eat a black bean so quickly. But then again, Elphaba was a Gryffindor. Bravery to the point of stupidity was the Gryffindors' biggest feature, and Elphaba was no exception.

"Licorice," Elphaba answered Galinda's unasked question with a casual shrug.

"I was always told that the black ones tasted like tar," Galinda remarked, sounding a little bit disappointed that Elphaba hadn't gotten the nasty surprise she had with some of those pink beans. Elphaba only stuck her tongue out in response before picking up a nearby orange bean. Her smug expression changed into one of disgust fairly quickly.

"Rust," she said grimly.

"Ha!" Galinda pointed a finger at Elphaba and laughed.

"Well, why don't you try an orange one if you think it's so funny?" Elphaba demanded, tossing Galinda another orange bean.

"Just because it's the same color as yours doesn't mean it'll taste the same, Elphie," Galinda reminded with a chuckle. She popped the bean into her mouth and made a noise of pleasure. "Ahhh! Freshly squeezed orange juice!" she declared. Elphaba looked envious.

"Ok, how about this?" Galinda asked. "You try this purple one, and if you don't like it, I'll try any color you want. Ok?"

"Fine," Elphaba decided, taking the purple bean from Galinda. She chewed it for about two seconds before hissing in disgust.

"Ink!" she cried and Galinda wilted at once, silently awaiting Elphaba's verdict about what she would have to try. But after five seconds of watching Elphaba scour the beans carefully, she paused and laughed.

"I'm just kidding, that purple one tasted like a grape," she said.

"Elphie!" Galinda whined. "You scared me!"

"That was kind of the point," Elphaba replied with a smirk.

"You jerk! You horrible, mean brute!" Galinda crossed her arms and pouted.

"You're cute when you're angry," Elphaba remarked off-handedly while Galinda continued to pout.

"Then get ready, because I'm about to be ADORABLE!" Galinda shot back, which only sent Elphaba into hysterics. For a moment, Galinda continued to scowl, clearly not amused, but Elphaba's laugh was just so infectious that despite her best efforts, Galinda began to laugh too.

But in time, their laughter finally subsided and the two witches gained their bearings enough to get rid of their empty candy wrappers.

"That was so unhealthy," Elphaba joked as she and Galinda exited the empty classroom.

"But it was fun, and those sweets were... magically delicious!" Galinda replied playfully.

"You're right," Elphaba acknowledged. "Now are you ready for dinner?" she asked, pointing to a nearby clock on one of the walls overhead of them. Galinda blanched when she realized that it was about to be dinnertime. She rubbed her bloated stomach.

"I'm guessing that's a no?" Elphaba teased, but she didn't wait for a reply before asking something else. "What do you want to do instead?"

10 minutes later, Elphaba and Galinda were dead asleep, curled up in each other's arms in one of the quieter sections of the library. While other students whizzed on by, reading and studying, Galinda lay reclined on one of the couches at the heart of the library, dead to the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Just more Gelphie fluff, this time set to the sickeningly sweet backdrop of them taste testing magic candy.


	6. Thestrals

With nothing else to do on that one particular weekend, Galinda found herself roaming the Hogwarts grounds. She really wasn't one for nature or hiking, but Hogwarts was just so beautiful that even the most introverted and anti-outdoors person couldn't help but fall in love with the nature surrounding the castle and it was no struggle at all to get lost in its majesty, wonder and beauty. Galinda was experiencing this sort of pleasure right now, walking around the castle with no real direction or goal in mind other than to enjoy the beautiful autumn day and all the lovely sights that the grounds had to offer. At one point during her walk, one sight in particular caught her eye.

"Thropp?" Galinda narrowed her sapphire eyes. Sure enough, it was the ugly green-skinned Gryffindor. Immediately, Galinda felt her lip curl in anger and disgust. Just seeing the freaky green bean could ruin her day! But then she noticed something. Elphaba appeared to be walking somewhere. Galinda couldn't really explain how she knew, but there was just something about the way Elphaba was walking that implied that she was not just out here to enjoy the lovely day. She had a goal in mind, and now, so did Galinda. Eyes narrowing even further, the little blond Slytherin snuck after the green-skinned Gryffindor, eyes and ears open and hungry for some nice, juicy gossip.

The discovery was disappointing, to say the least. After about a solid 15 minutes of just stalking Elphaba across the grounds, Galinda finally got the answer as to where Elphaba was going. It was an emptier part of the large stretch of land that stood between the castle and Hagrid's hut, which rested peacefully upon the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

"What in Merlin's name is she doing?" Galinda asked herself as she watched Elphaba pause beside a tree in that little woodsy area between the castle and the forest. She removed the satchel from her side and pulled out a giant slab of bloody meat. Galinda recoiled in disgust, but then she nearly shrieked in surprise when something took the bloody steak from Elphaba's hand. The green girl had scarcely pulled it out of her bag and held it out before something yanked it out of her grasp and walked away with it. The most surprising and strange thing of all, however, was the fact that the creature was invisible! Well and truly, Galinda hadn't seen a single other living thing the entire time they walked over here, but as Elphaba pulled more and more hunks of raw meat out, more and more invisible creatures came around and took them from her.

"Huh?" Galinda couldn't help but swallow nervously, wondering what these creatures were exactly, and how dangerous they were. On the one hand, Elphaba was able to feed them by hand with no problem. On the other, however, their diet seemed to consist of bloody meat. Not a very comforting thing. And Galinda had been right in the middle of thinking about this when she felt something large and leathery brush against her leg. Unable to see what had caused this feeling, Galinda shrieked and jumped forward, tripping over the root of the tree she had been hiding behind. Not only did this totally blow her cover, but it sent her tumbling down the little hill on which she had been standing and, as fate would have it, she literally landed right at Elphaba's feet, nose inches away from the green girl's heels.

"Arduenna-Upland!" Elphaba snarled at once, whipping around with a defensive look in her eyes. "Have you been following me?!" there was nothing but pure loathing and wariness in her voice as she sneered down at Galinda, who struggled to look dignified as she stood back up and brushed the dirty, fallen leaves off of her face. She tried to maintain her composure as she replied.

"I noticed you standing out here and I was wondering what on earth you were feeding," she said, intentionally leaving out the fact that she had actually needed to follow Elphaba here before she got to see the feeding.

"Thestrals," Elphaba with a sharp and disgusted, disdainful expression.

But as if saying the name had some sort of magic effect over her, Elphaba turned back around once more and pulled another handful of meat out of her bag. She tossed it in the air and just as it began to fall back down, something stopped its descent in midair.

"Woah!" Galinda couldn't help but exclaim, and Elphaba, for once, gave her a look that held something other than hatred, anger or disdain.

"Can you see them?" she asked, and Galinda noticed a note of severity in her voice. It wasn't one of anger, just intensity... and hope?

"No," Galinda confessed. Elphaba's face suddenly became unreadable once more. It was clear Galinda had not given the desired answer.

"Am I supposed to?" she asked, suddenly worried. Wait. What? Worried? Since when did Galinda care what Elphaba thought? But when Elphaba could only shake her head, something like disappointment and loneliness creeping into her eyes, Galinda couldn't help but worry that she might've just offended the green-skinned Gryffindor and, for once, that thought made Galinda feel bad.

After that first accidental meeting in the woods, Galinda took it upon herself to research the Thestrals. She really wasn't sure what had gotten into her to make her feel as though there was something she needed to apologize to Elphaba for, but it was a feeling that refused to go away. Somehow, deep inside, Galinda knew she had walked in on something intense private and personal, even if she couldn't explain why she knew that. But after doing that research, she had her answer. Thestrals were winged, skeletal horses, but they could only be seen by those who had seen death. The fact that Elphaba was able to see them meant that she had seen someone die. And not only that, but that must've been why she had asked Galinda, with that hopeful yet guarded tone, about whether or not she could see the Thestrals too.

"She had been about to open up to me," Galinda murmured, that sinking feeling in her chest getting even deeper. "And without even realizing it, I betrayed that trust..." perhaps this thought was a bit more far-fetched then the first, but Galinda still had a point either way. Elphaba's visit to the Thestrals had been a very private moment, and for Galinda to stumble in on it would almost have been as disrespectful as if Elphaba had visited a graveyard instead. Feeling deeply embarrassed with herself, Galinda made it a priority to apologize. Much as she loathed Elphaba, even she was not cruel enough to disrespect the dead, especially if it was someone Elphaba loved.

And somehow, imagining that there was a person out there that Elphaba mourned gave her a new dimension in the eyes of Galinda, and Galinda already found herself growing intrigued with this girl whom she so used to despise. Perhaps it seemed like common sense in hindsight that, of course, Elphaba would have at least one person out there in the world who loved her, but for Galinda to find out in this manner really did change her perceptions about the green girl drastically, and now she found herself wanting to know more about the mysterious and fiery Gryffindor...

From that day forward, after seeing that bout of humanity in the very girl Galinda used to so demonize and dehumanize, Galinda began making steps towards mending the bond between herself and Elphaba. It was a painfully slow and careful process, but through determination and time, Galinda managed to get it done. Against all odds, she managed to gain Elphaba's trust and friendship, and, in the process, Galinda herself went through quite the mental and emotional change. Gone were the days of fighting and loathing, gone were the stereotypes and negativity, gone was all the stupid pride and unwarranted attacks. Instead, by being willing to reach out to the very girl she once used to ostracize, Galinda had not only helped that girl in question, she had also helped herself. Her first act of kindness made her a kinder person in general, and it gave her a wider and more generous outlook on life in general. She had grown wiser and more mature, less judgmental and narrow-minded. It was a very good change indeed. But best of all was just being able to call Elphaba a friend!

As Galinda came to know, Elphaba really was a great person, and it had only been their initially ill reception of each other that kept them from realizing what a perfect pair they were. Now that Galinda had broken the ice, though, formally apologizing for walking in on Elphaba during her moment with the Thestrals, the two had become incredibly close and warm and open in the days to come.

"Can you ever believe there used to be a time when we loathed each other?" Galinda laughed as she and Elphaba explored the Hogwarts grounds.

"Yes I can," Elphaba replied teasingly, knowing that this was NOT the response Galinda had wanted. Her joke had the desired effect and Galinda pretended to roll her eyes in despair that Elphaba always took things so literally.

"You know what I mean!" she cried.

"If you mean that it seems funny to think that we used to despise each other in retrospect because of how close we are now, then yes, I do," Elphaba laughed, finally showing mercy upon her new best friend and allowing the little jibe to end early. And, to show how sincere she was being this time, Elphaba then carefully put an arm around Galinda's waist. Galinda could not stop a noise of surprise, but she made no move to remove Elphaba's arm. Instead, she only smiled and snuggled in close to Elphaba's side. The rest of the walk was even lovelier than before.

But then there finally came a day when Galinda got the answer to the question that, initially, had been burning in the back of her mind.

"Thanks for coming to feed the Thestrals with me," Elphaba said as she and Galinda returned to that little patch of forest wherein they had shared their first non-hostile conversation ever. They had not been back since, Galinda knowing full well that she had not yet gained enough of Elphaba's trust to warrant the privilege of being allowed to join her out to see the Thestrals. Now, however, it seemed that Elphaba was finally deciding that she could trust Galinda with this secret. Galinda felt honored, and she made that fact very clear.

"It's my pleasure," she said. Elphaba gave her a meaningful smile and Galinda couldn't help but feel a little bit nervous. Although she meant what she had said, there was still a bit of awkwardness and uncertainty in her mind about how ok Elphaba was with revealing such a personal and emotional piece of her life with the girl who used to throw curses and curse words at her every chance she had.

Galinda looked away, then, distracting herself with pulling some meat out of the satchels she and Elphaba had brought. She tossed it up in the air, the piece of meat never touched the ground again, stopping halfway there as one of the Thestrals caught it. Galinda couldn't help but smile a little in wonder. It still felt strange for her to think that she and Elphaba were totally surrounded, yet she couldn't see a single thing.

"I trust you've read about them?" Elphaba asked when she saw Galinda's lips twitch.

"A few times, I know a little bit about them," Galinda replied, unthinkingly.

"Mmm," Elphaba replied. For a moment, there was silence, then she took a deep breath in and spoke. "My mother," she said, and for a moment, Galinda didn't understand, but the moment she looked into Elphaba's deep brown eyes, she understood everything. She had never felt so honored.

Although neither Elphaba nor Galinda ever brought it up again, after that one day with the Thestrals wherein Elphaba finally told the story that Galinda had been so desperate to know, the bond between the two of them had reached a new level of seriousness and intimacy. It was one thing to have a casual friend, and it was one thing to have a secret-keeper. It was one thing to hang out with someone you liked, and it was one thing to be vulnerable with someone. But it was another thing entirely to confess a secret so deep and personal, and without any inhibition or restraint. What Elphaba shared with Galinda in the forest that day, though not a particularly earth-shattering secret, had been such a personal and moving story that both of the witches knew their friendship had just reached a new level, and it would not be a bond easily broken.

And they only grew closer and closer from that day onward. It seemed like the two would be life-long companions, and, in some sense, they were. They stayed friends for their whole lives, even when time and tribulation tore them apart. It was only a lot of bad luck that made it such that one of their lives was painfully cut short. It happened one day, about 20 years after the two had graduated from Hogwarts, that Elphaba finally died. She was killed by assassins, hired by the government to quell her rebellious dogma. Galinda (since renamed Glinda) had been there during the assassination, trying to help Elphaba escape before death could catch her. But Elphaba, stubborn Elphaba, had chosen to die standing than to live hiding. Because of that, despite Glinda's best efforts, Elphaba still died, and she could only watch helplessly from a corner as Elphaba spent her final breaths screaming as she was literally melted away, clean off the face of the earth.

"Elphie?" Glinda whimpered from her hiding spot as Elphaba's wounded cries finally ceased. Once Glinda heard the sound of Elphaba's assassins exiting the castle in which this final showdown had commenced, Glinda dared to leave her hiding spot. Although she had physically and personally seen Elphaba melting away, it wasn't until she reached the witch's empty robe and hat that the true horror of what she had witnessed sank in properly. After it did, however, Glinda spent the rest of that day just sobbing, bawling, crying her eyes out as she buried her face into that robe: the very last piece of the only friend that ever truly mattered to her.

But, as time rolled on, Glinda was forced to come to terms with what had happened. Though she was still far from being finished with the grieving process, she no longer cried herself to sleep every single night and she was able to function during the daylight hours. At one point, however, the witch took a little break from her job at the Ministry of Magic and returned to Hogwarts, hoping to take a literal stroll down memory lane. It would be painful, but Glinda really did need to talk about Elphaba again, even if she would only be able to talk to the walls of the castle and not anyone living within them. After all, Elphaba wasn't exactly a very popular figure. To bring her name up in polite conversation was taboo, but Glinda wasn't going back to Hogwarts in hopes of finding a sympathetic ear. She just wanted to go back to the place when she and Elphaba had been an unstoppable force, a power couple, the ultimate example of "relationship goals".

So once Glinda was able to secure some time off, she returned to Hogwarts. After just walking the castle halls with a sad and dreamy expression upon her face, the witch finally made her way out doors. Once she was done roaming the grounds, she finally reached the little forest that contained the Thestrals. This was the place she really had wanted to visit. It was her hopes that she would be able to find something therapeutic in finally getting to see them and look them in the eye. That, and the Thestrals had always been a source of gentleness and vulnerability to Glinda before. She could definitely use that now. So, carrying a large bag of meat, Glinda made her way to the Thestrals' home. No one was there.

"Hello?" Glinda called out. "Anybody home?" she opened the bag of meat and waved some of the pieces around tantalizingly, but nothing stepped forward. It was a disheartening blow to the woman who had come all the way out here in hopes of finding a friend or support, only to be met with silence. It worried her, then, where the Thestrals totally gone? Or were they hiding from her? Could they somehow sense that she was part of the reason their old friend, Elphaba, was dead? Could they somehow sense the severity of her crimes? And were they now hiding from her because of that? The thought scared Glinda more than the idea that they might've simply been relocated, and she began to panic.

"I know I'm no Elphaba!" she cried frantically. "But I assure you that I am still a friend, and I come in peace!" she continued to wave her offering around, but there still wasn't ever a taker. Every slab she tossed hit the ground and stayed there, untouched and unmoved. That was when Glinda began to cry. Not only had the loss of Elphaba returned to her in a fresh wave of grief, but the realization that she might've lost the Thestrals as well came as another crushing blow to her. She finally broke down. This was the only place where it was safe for her to mourn Elphaba, she was going to make every last little tear count.

But even Glinda couldn't cry forever. When she finally ran out of tears for the day, she stood up and brushed the dirt from her dress. She squared her shoulders and raised her chin. Perhaps she had not managed to find the comfort she had been seeking when she first came out here, but getting a chance to just scream and cry in peace had actually been quite relieving. Straightening her back and picking up her meat bag, the witch turned around to head back to the castle, hoping that her eyes weren't too red. That was when something finally happened.

"Woah!" Glinda yelped as she was suddenly yanked backwards. She whipped around, but there was nobody there. For a second, then, nothing else happened. But right before Glinda could try leaving again, her bag began to float back towards the Thestrals' territory. Since it was hanging from her shoulder, she was dragged along after it.

"Merlin's beard!" she exclaimed. She quickly tore the bag off her shoulder. It crashed to the ground, then the flap began to slide open. Something the width of a horse's muzzle was poking into the bag. Glinda knew this because of the imprint the invisible figure was leaving. One of the meat slabs that she had not thrown yet was pulled out of the bag. It hung in the air for a few seconds before vanishing entirely.

"Merlin's beard!" Glinda repeated, but this time, it wasn't from shock or fear, but surprise.

Had the Thestrals finally come back after all? Had they somehow heard her apology and forgiven her? Was it really them? Or was she going mad? And if they really were finally here, what had taken them so long? Were they waiting for her to finish crying? Or had they perhaps been roaming some other part of the ground and only just now came back? All these questions swirled around Glinda's mind as more and more pieces of the scattered meat were picked up and then vanished entirely by hungry Thestrals. Glinda couldn't help but make a small noise of joy and relief that her old friends had not abandoned her after all. She even giggled a bit as she watched the meat disappear bit by bit. But then it occurred to her...

"Wait a minute!" she cried. "If I still can't you guys even after all this time, then what did I see on the night when Elphaba was melted?! Am I crazy, or could Elphaba really somehow still be...?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: One of the saddest parts about Wicked, to me, was the fact that Glinda never got the chance to know that Elphaba really was alive and well. I know why they kept it a secret, but in this AU, Glinda finds out. I mean, let's be real, if you can only see Thestrals after you've seen death and Glinda was there on the night Elphaba died and we assume that's the first time Glinda's ever seen anybody die, then how do you think she would react when she would still find herself unable to see the Thestrals? I guess it's one way Elphaba's secret could be made known to the world. What do you guys think?
> 
> This is also the last Hogwarts one-shot I have planned out now, but if anyone has any other ideas they want to see, just ask!


	7. Foreign Exchange Student

Dumbledore tapped his glass with a spoon for silence and, like magic, the entire dining hall went quiet at once.

"Thank you all for your attention!" he began. "I know that announcements such as these are far from common, but it is still of vital importance for everyone to listen because, tonight, Hogwarts is getting its first ever foreign exchange students!" the moment Dumbledore spoke those last three words, a dull roar started up in the dining hall as every student turned to the person nearest to them and began to whisper and wonder.

Dumbledore allowed the confused and excited speculations to carry on for a few moments before tapping his glass once again.

"I understand that this is a momentous occasion and I have no doubt that all of you are quite interested in seeing who your new peers will be, so I shall not keep you waiting any longer!" he said, and then the moment he finished speaking, he waved an arm. A few feet to his left, one of the doors behind the table where the staff all dined at swung open. Out popped a _gorgeous_ , young woman with hair like gold, eyes like sapphires, skin like porcelain and a big, pink, glittery dress that almost hurt the eyes of anyone who beheld it because of how bright it was.

"Blimey! I don't know if I'm about to fall in love or get sick!" Ron whispered as the beautiful young with stepped up in front of the staff's table with a bunch of adorable giggles and princess waves. Harry laughed a little at Ron's joke, but he couldn't disagree. He had never seen a witch so beautiful before, yet he wasn't quite sure what to make of her bubbly, quirky mannerisms. She kept on tossing her golden curls and posing as though she expected to have her picture taken, yet there was not a single camera in the audience and she knew it. What on earth was she doing? It really did mystify Harry and Ron both and, one seat away, Hermione was busy rolling her eyes.

"I had hoped that when Dumbledore said we'd be getting foreign exchange students he would've meant someone with something amazing _in_ their head rather than _on_ it," she grunted, clearly far less enchanted by the beautiful blond than anyone else in the room. She looked quite annoyed at the girl's glittery display, even rolling her arms as the girl gave another toss of her hair.

"Oh, lighten up, Hermione, you haven't even met the girl yet!" it was Ron who interceded upon the foreign exchange student's behalf first. The dreamy note in his voice did nothing to help Hermione feel better. Instead, her eyes only narrowed even further, crossing her arms in disdain. Before she could say anything else, however, the foreign exchange student finally began to speak.

"Hello everyone! My name is Glinda Arduenna-Upland, of the Upper Uplands in the Gillikin country of Oz!" she said with a grandiose wave. Only silence met her greeting, not a single student in the crowd below having ever heard of Oz or Gillikin or the Upper Uplands. Even Hermione looked baffled, her irritation with the girl evaporating into confusion when she realized that these were magical places she had not yet ever heard of. Already, her gears were turning as she tried to think back on every History of Magic class that she'd ever taken.

"Gillikin. Gillikin. Gillikin. I'm sure I've heard that name before! But where?!"

"Insufferable know-it-all," Ron cackled. This earned him an elbow to the ribs. "Ow! Hey!"

Meanwhile, Glinda had since started to speak again.

"I am honored that you chose _me_ to be a foreign exchange student in this year's program and I so look forward to getting to know each and every one of you and unlock all the secrets that this _glorifcous_ castle has to offer!" she gave a curtsey to indicate that her speech was done. That was when everyone in the dining hall began to clap. Except Hermione.

"Glorificous?" she demanded, sounding scandalized. "How on earth did _she_ qualify for this program?!"

But before either Ron or Harry could've told her off, Dumbledore tapped his glass for a third time. While Glinda took a seat in a chair sitting at the end of the staff's table, Dumbledore announced the second and final foreign exchange student. Once again, the door behind the table swung open, but no one came out. There was a moment of awkward silence as the door remained open, but no one coming out.

"Will the second and final foreign exchange student please make her way out to the dining hall?" Dumbledore asked, voice as soft and gentle as a cloud. But even with a coaxing like that, no one emerged from the door.

"Oh! Elphie!" because the dining hall was so quiet, everyone heard Glinda's sigh of annoyance. She hopped up at once before vanishing through the door. Right before she was totally inside, however, she turned around to address the crowd of waiting students.

"Just give us a sec, ok? Thanks!" she sing-songed, then she pulled the door shut after herself and it closed with a nice little bang.

Three more minutes of awkward silence passed and, at long last, the door opened again. Glinda bounced out first, beaming from ear to ear. She took her seat once again and that was when, finally, slowly but surely, the second witch made her appearance.

"Blood Hell!"

"Blimey!"

"Merlin's beard!"

All around the dining hall, a slew of gasps and whispered curses were uttered when the mysterious second student finally made her appearance. From the staff to the students, everyone began to whisper and marvel. This was because, although the new student was completely covered up from foot to neck, she was unable to hide her face, which revealed her bright green skin.

"What d'you think made her look that way?" Ron asked, sounding a bit astounded and a bit disgusted. Harry could only shrug and shake his head. He would've wondered if his eyes or glasses were failing him, had the rest of the dining hall not started to gasp and whisper in shock. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Hermione staring at the green witch with a slack jaw. Even she seemed to be at a loss for this phenomenon. But that was when the green girl began her own introduction, which was far less gentle and fluffy than Glinda's had been.

"What?" she asked sarcastically. "What are you all looking? Oh! Do I have something in my teeth?!"

"Elphie!" once again, off to the side, Glinda snapped her friend's name, but it was too late, she was on a roll.

"Ok! Let's get this over with!" she snarled. "My name is Elphaba Thropp, no, I'm not seasick, yes, I've always been green, no, I didn't chew grass as a child!" Glinda rolled her eyes with a tired sigh while everyone else could only gawk. Only Dumbledore was smiling.

"Well, Ms. Elphaba, that was a lovely introduction!" he said and Elphaba looked completely caught off guard. This was because she had not expected anyone to compliment her at all. She could see the way the staff all gasped and gawked when she finally made her "grand" entrance! But not Dumbledore, there was a note of sincerity, acceptance and understanding in his voice that could not be faked. It was enough to quiet Elphaba back down some. She gave a short nod of her head before thanking Dumbledore with a smile that only he caught. Then she took her place right beside Glinda. She received weak, half-hearted applauses as she took her seat.

The rest of dinner passed awkwardly, everyone in the entire room constantly sneaking peeks at the bizarre and surly green witch. The only two people in the entire hall that weren't constantly gaping or gasping were Dumbledore and Glinda, Dumbledore locked in conversation with McGonagall while Glinda was locked in conversation with Elphaba herself, who looked quite uncomfortable with it all.

"Poor girl!" Harry mused unwittingly. As he watched Elphaba fall under fire of all the stares and gossip and as he watched her slowly but surely turn her back more and more on the student body, the more and more sympathy he felt for her. He knew what it felt like to be the subject to intense scrutiny and interest. He knew what it felt like to be looked at for no good reason. He knew how embarrassing and uncomfortable undesired attention was. His heart went out to her as she continued to tremble, visibly uncomfortable. Beside him, Ron was still throwing skeptical glances at the newcomers while Hermione was still blinking up at Elphaba in fascination.

Once dinner was over, every student except Elphaba and Glinda left the dining hall. All around, chatter flew through the air as every student wondered where Elphaba and Glinda would be staying for the night.

"I hope they stay in _our_ dorm!" a Ravenclaw said.

"Well, just as long as it's not the green one!" a Gryffindor replied.

"Oh hush! I think she's very witty! I would like to get to know someone like that!" the Ravenclaw defended.

"Well, you can have the green girl all you want!" another Ravenclaw snickered. "Just so long as the rest of us get to hang out with the blond!" This earned him some snickers from other male peers across all the houses. It also earned him a smack from the first Ravenclaw.

"Oh! Grow up!" she hissed. And on and on this sort of chatter continued, everyone trying to figure out just where these witches had come from, and where it was that they would be staying.

The answer was made by Dumbledore and was made known later that night when Elphaba and Glinda were personally escorted by him to the Gryffindor common room. A soft groan went up from all the students as they realized that they would have to be rooming with the green one.

"Dang it! Why didn't they put her in Ravenclaw?" the Gryffindor from earlier exclaimed under her breath. Cormac snickered in agreement. All the other students looked just as guarded as well. Dean and Seamus looked a little less than pleased and Neville had already since scooted away into hiding, clearly intimidated by the green witch. Fred and George were already seizing the blond witch up with interest while Ginny's face was unreadable. Lavender, Parvati and Romilda were all whispering to each other, but giving away their topic of discussion by not-so-subtly pointing at her. In the background, Collin looked like he wanted to take a picture of the green girl, but even he seemed to have the good sense not to, though he still had his camera in hand. Elphaba's face had since contorted into a scowl again, but at the silent behest of young Glinda, she didn't speak. Dumbledore, however, did, breaking the silence as though he were only having a pleasant chat with the students.

"Tonight, Ms. Elphaba and Ms. Glinda will stay in Gryffindor. I expect you to treat them both with the same amount of respect you'd treat me, or any other honored guest within out hallowed halls!" he said as he helped the two girls get their luggage into the room. Once everything was inside, however, he bade all the students a good night before exiting the dorm room and leaving them all in awkward silence once more.

For about two hours, everyone walked on eggshells around Elphaba. No one spoke to her and the only time anyone looked at her was when she was looking away. Glinda was treated much the same way. Although she was quite chatty, no one else really knew what to say back to her, and some of it came from the worry that what they said to her might somehow impact the green girl, and no one wanted to provoke her. So even chatty, bubbly, friendly, pretty little Glinda remained mostly unacknowledged. At least until she finally lashed out at them all.

"Oh honestly! It's like talking to a brick wall! Haven't any of you got any common courtesy or common decency at all? Haven't any of you ever engaged in polite conversation before? Or is every Gryffindor this shallow, rude, ignorant and closed off?" and that was the remark that finally yielded a reaction. Hermione was the first one to respond, taking personal offense to the term "shallow".

"We are not shallow!" she snapped immediately.

"Oh, Merlin, here we go!" Ron whispered to Harry with an exasperated look. Harry only gave him a grimace in reply.

"I will have you know that Gryffindor is the house of the courageous and the righteous!" Hermione continued. "And everyone in this room has a long history of greatness! You may be foreign exchange students, but that does not give either of you the right to disparage us so."

"Hark who's talking," Elphaba interrupted with a dry grin, having since looked up from her book with interest when Hermione finally began to fight back. Realizing whose attention she'd garnered, Hermione quickly shut up. Glinda, however, was not yet finished.

"If you really are so courageous, then be brave and talk to us! Stop treating us like outsiders! We didn't come here to be ignored, we came here to be integrated and learn alongside you!" she pleaded. "If you really are so righteous, then drop your hoity-toity ways and quit making fun of my friend!" she finished with a passionate look at Elphaba. For the first time that night, Elphaba's face softened into a smile of real warmth.

"My sweet, do not waste your time or breath. We both knew that this would happen," she murmured.

"But that doesn't mean it should!" Glinda argued back. "I am quite disgusted with the disgraceful treatment we have both received thus far and we have half a mind to just pack up and go home! We will let it be known that Hogwarts is not a home and it far from accepting!" she continued.

For a moment, there was only silence, Glinda grimly waiting for the first person who would shout, "Well, then, if you're so unhappy here, then leave! Go away! Go back to where you came from!" but that retort never came. Instead, it was Ginny who first stepped up, one of the few Gryffindors to look properly ashamed as Glinda's harsh remarks finally rang true within their ears.

"I'm sorry," she said, plain and simple. "You're right, we have been unfairly harsh towards you two. And that's all on us. We were wrong to behave like that. It really is great that you are here. May I ask how you got involved with the program?" she extended a hand to Glinda, sincerity in her hazel eyes. The entire room fell into a silent surprise once again as Glinda's jaw nearly dropped, her having not expected to receive an apology so quickly and sincerely. Elphaba looked just as surprised, though she was regarding Ginny with a fond expression now.

"Well, I suppose that is quite alright," Glinda said, flustered, as she accepted Ginny's outstretched hand. She had not planned on what to say in the event of a truce. Then, once Ginny was finished shaking Glinda's hand, she turned to Elphaba with the same gesture. Elphaba, though secretly shocked by having someone willingly shake her hand, masked that surprise with a calm, confident smile. She gave Ginny's hand a tight, formal squeeze to indicate that she really meant business. Ginny smiled politely at her, no pretense or disgust anywhere in her expression at all.

"Merlin's beard!" Ron muttered. Behind him Fred and George's interest seemed to have peaked and Hermione was looking ashamed and angry all at once. Everyone else bore similar expressions of embarrassment and a newfound sense of interest in the foreign exchange students.

The rest of the night passed along much better. Glinda's little speech really did the trick and got every Gryffindor engaged. Suddenly, the room was full of sincere, friendly and interested chatter. There were still a few reserves about the foreign exchange students, especially the green one, but everyone was becoming more and more open-minded the longer the night went on. People spoke to both Glinda and Elphaba and treated them in a polite and respectful manner, asking sincere and interesting questions about the two foreign exchange students. Glinda looked positively delighted to finally be receiving all the attention she'd so craved ever since first coming here and even Elphaba looked happy that she was finally being addressed in polite and common chatter. Eventually, even Harry, Ron and Hermione got in on the action.

"So where is Oz?" Hermione asked Elphaba. Although it was clear that Elphaba's skin was still a bit of a shocker to her, Hermione had come to learn how intelligent, witty and eager to learn Elphaba really was and the two became fast friends after that. Hermione almost considered them like kindred spirits just because of how similar they were, not just in intelligence level, but in passions and interest.

"To be quite honest, we are not entirely sure ourselves," Elphaba answered sincerely. Now that she was being treated with respect, her tone was far more conversational and inviting. "We arrived here through a spell that transported us not too far away from Hogwarts. We think it may have had to do something with the fact that Hogwarts has so much magic embedded within it that we were drawn here like a metal to a magnet," she explained. Hermione looked fascinated and it didn't take long for her to begin interrogating Elphaba on all the magic she already knew.

"If they create a study group, we're all doomed!" Ron pretended to moan in dismay as he and Harry watched Hermione engage.

"The Ravenclaws won't be the smartest house anymore, will they?" he agreed. But he, himself, had spoken to Elphaba just moments ago and he found her to be a little bit like him as well. They were both raised under less than stellar conditions (physically, emotionally and financially) and were often marked as odd ones out. They also both had a very dry and aggressive sort of wit and temper. Although Harry was far more outgoing than Elphaba, some of the things she said and did when she was angry or defensive reminded Harry quite a bit of himself. In fact, in hindsight, her little "greeting" to the student body hadn't been too far off from the types of things Harry used to say to his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. And Harry certainly was no stranger to bitterness, anger or loneliness...

Harry, Ron and Hermione managed to speak with Glinda as well and although all three of them were still on the fence about how to feel about her, it was clear that her sharp call-out of the Gryffindor house had earned her respect, when it didn't earn her irritation. They came to learn that she was a very good and natural leader. Behind her "dumb blond" persona, a queen lay in waiting. She knew how to get what she wanted and she new how to control a crowd. She knew how to stand up for what was right and she had no reserves about calling people out on their mistakes.

Hermione looked willing to make amends with Glinda for having been so judgmental earlier, especially after Elphaba managed to tell her that Glinda really was very intelligent, she just didn't apply herself. She was a girl full of brains, but she did not like to use them. Or, if she did, it was not in the ways that Elphaba did. While Elphaba and Hermione were drawn to books, lectures and lessons, Glinda preferred to learn how to deal with people, and the world around them. It was just a different type of intelligence.

When this message finally resonated with Hermione, she found herself a bit less disdainful of the hair-tossing, princess-waiving, glittery dress-wearing Glinda and instead tried to talk with her in a serious manner.

"I am sorry about earlier," Hermione said at last, offering to shake hands with Glinda.

"Not to worry," Glinda promised with another dazzling smile as she shook Hermione's hand in return. Hermione grinned awkwardly in return.

"Your hair is lovely by the way!" Ron gulped suddenly after he saw that smile she gave Hermione.

"Oh! You're so sweet!" Glinda giggled, giving Ron the most flirty and adorable smile he'd ever seen. He felt himself melt, vision suddenly becoming blurry with embarrassment. Hermione only rolled her eyes. Harry would've made fun of him for being so lovestruck, but he himself was a little enchanted and intimidated by Glinda's good looks and charm. In the back of his mind, he imagined Glinda becoming fast friends with the likes of Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil.

As the night rolled on, the atmosphere grew far more relaxed than it was a few hours ago and it was like Glinda and Elphaba were already a part of the crew. Of course, nothing was set in stone yet. The two were going to spend a night in each of the other dorms just to see them, and then they were going to get properly sorted. But just for that night, as far as anyone else was concerned, they were already honorary Gryffindors. And somewhere along the way, the conversation became so relaxed that hobbies, interests and talents were brought up and Glinda suddenly grew very excited. She was sitting cross-legged in front of the fire place but she pointed to Elphaba, who was sitting on one of the couches, and began to beg.

"Elphie! You should sing something for these guys!"

"What?" Elphaba scoffed. "Are you mad?"

"No! Come on! Please! You have the best voice in the whole world and we're already talking about talent, so why not?" Glinda pleaded.

"Because I don't sing in public, especially not in front of strangers," Elphaba deadpanned back.

"You used to sing hymns for your father's congregation!" Glinda reminded, still pleading.

"That was different!" Elphaba retorted, suddenly looking uncomfortable at the mention of her father.

"You know, Hogwarts has a singing group if you're interested," one Gryffindor suddenly said to Elphaba.

"But please, sing for us now! Do sing! I'm sure it'll be lovely!" Neville, who had since come back down when he caught wind that Elphaba and Glinda were friendly, pleaded. Then slowly, one by one, the entire dorm came alive with students eager to here Elphaba sing. They began to chant at her, imploring her to. Glinda was the loudest of them all. In the background, Dean, Seamus, Lee, Fred and George started creating little firecracker type things that, when they popped, uttered the chant as well: "Sing, sing, sing!"

And at last, Elphaba surrendered.

"But only because I know I'll never hear the end of it if I don't!" Elphaba glared at Glinda.

"Love you, Elphie!" Glinda waved adorably. Elphaba's face twitched unreadably, but she finally took a deep breath in and acquiesced. The song was unlike anything that anyone other than Glinda had ever heard before. It was her mother's lullaby to her. It was a song of strength and courage, something that Elphaba really needed right now. Though she was excited to be a foreign exchange student, she couldn't deny some level of fear. Nor could she deny how hurt she had been when, initially, the entire school kept staring and pointing at her like she was some sort of freak. She pretended that the words and gestures didn't bother her but, after enough of them, it really did start to hurt. She was strong, but not invulnerable, and even she was still sometimes susceptible to the hurt that came with judgement. She really needed to hear this lullaby again.

All eyes and ears were enchanted as they listened to the green girl sing. Her voice really was like magic, audible gold. There was something smooth, low, silky and powerful about it, but she could still hit the high notes with a clear, sweet pitch so unlike her regular, smoky speaking voice. The entire dorm could only gawk, hypnotized by her song. Even Glinda looked like she was falling in love, eyes practically in heart-shapes as Elphaba kept on singing.

"Blimey!" Ron whispered. "That's the voice of a goddess!" and Harry, though he agreed, gestured for Ron to be quite because he didn't want to miss a single note of Elphaba's voice. It was something he would never ever forget and, in the back of his mind, he realized that if there was ever a lullaby he would've wanted to hear, it would've been this. It was so gentle yet so powerful and moving. It was quiet but not weak. Some students even began crying, the whole dorm moved by Elphaba's words. Then, once the final note finally faded into the air, the entire dorm exploded into applause and cheers. Elphaba looked away and everyone assumed it was from shyness. Glinda, however, saw a tear glisten in Elphaba's eye and she wasted no time in hopping up from the fireplace to come to her friend's side and embrace her, kissing her cheek.

"I'm so proud of you," Glinda whispered to Elphaba and Elphaba responded by resting her head on Glinda's shoulder and sighing into her neck.

This year was going to be very weird and very difficult, Elphaba could already feel it, but just for this moment, as she sat in the Gryffindor common room with Glinda in her arms and excited students all around, she felt just a little bit better, just a little bit braver.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Here ya go elphiegranger2508! Hope it met your standards!


	8. Erised

Elphaba cursed herself under her breath. She hadn't meant to stay in the library for so long, but she had fallen asleep while studying. After receiving a rude awakening from Madam Pince, the green girl had been forced to scram. Only half awake, she stumbled through the dark and empty halls of Hogwarts. Through her irritation and her exhaustion, Elphaba found herself briefly wondering if she might find a shortcut back to the Gryffindor tower. She wasn't sure how much further her legs would carry her, so any shortcut would be welcome. Besides, this was Hogwarts. The castle itself was alive, ever-shifting and ever-changing. Elphaba was willing to bet 10 galleons that some mystical door would pop up and lead her down a magical hallway that would somehow open up right over her bed. It wouldn't surprise her at all.

"Here's hoping," she muttered to herself, but as she continued on through the long and winding corridors, no such luck befell her. Every door she opened, or tried to open, had something either very random or very mundane behind it. First there was just an empty classroom. Then a broom closet. Then sleeping griffin (Elphaba had hastily shut that door again). Then a room full of a bunch of random floating lights. Knowing Hogwarts, they were either killer fairies or sentient stars or some strange mix of the two.

"Nope, nope, nope," Elphaba side tiredly. Looks like she was going to have to talk the long way home after all.

But even though Elphaba had resigned herself to this annoying fate, she still opened up a few more doors on her way back, hoping that maybe some room might still offer her a desired shortcut. At last, then, she stumbled upon something that caught her eye.

"Hmmm, this looks new!" Elphaba whispered to herself, perking up ever so slightly as she noticed a new door on the corner of the hallway. As far as she could tell, it had not been there a few hours ago when she first went to the library. Curious, Elphaba pushed the door open. She was slightly started when its hinges made not a traditional squeaking sound, but a ghostly sigh, as if someone had just exhaled when she opened the door. But there was no one there. Elphaba half considered running right then, thoroughly creeped out by the humanistic noise of the door, but then she noticed something tucked against the far wall of the otherwise empty room. A mirror?

Feeling inexplicably drawn to it, Elphaba steeled her nerves and stepped inside, approaching the mirror. For a moment, she couldn't see anything in it, even her own reflection, but she attributed that to the layers of grime and dirt that coated the mirror's smooth surface. Once she was standing in a very particular spot, however, Elphaba finally saw something, but it was something beyond her wildest dreams and it was hideously clear, sharp and detailed. It was herself. And all of her family, living and dead, standing together and smiling. And all of them were totally normal...

Elphaba's mouth opened in silent cry of awe as she reached out and touched the mirror's suddenly-clean and bright surface. Staring back at her was a beautiful, pale-skinned face. The figure's long brown hair was combed back in beautiful waves. It was her! Crazy as it sounded, that girl in the mirror was her! Pale and smooth and flawless! The same deep brown eyes, the same sharp nose (though not quite as offensively long), the same cocky and confident smile, but so much better and happier and... prettier!

"I look... beautiful!" Elphaba murmured, and her pale-skinned reflection nodded back at her, as if agreeing with her whispered statement.

Standing to her left was a girl who looked quite a lot like her, smiling and waving at Elphaba too. That was Nessa! Her legs were strong, sturdy and gorgeous. They weren't tangled, they weren't bone-thin, they were fully functional! And there wasn't a wheelchair in sight! She looked so happy, holding her normal-skinned sister's hand. Elphaba felt tears pricking her eyes at the sight.

Behind the two sisters were Frex, Melena, and the Minister of Magic. All of them were smiling, looking so proud at Elphaba and the strong, beautiful, confident young woman that she had become. The minister was resting a proud hand on one of Elphaba's reflection's shoulder while her father, Frex, rested his hand on Elphaba's other shoulder. For once, he looked quite content with his daughter and his eyes seemed to say, _Do you see this? This is Elphaba Thropp. And she is my daughter!_ Beside him, Melena had an arm wrapped around his waist, her head resting happily on his shoulder. She was smiling warmly at the Elphaba on the other side of the mirror.

"Mama? Father? Nessa?" Elphaba could only shake her head in disbelief, tears finally starting to trickle down her face. What sort of cruel, sick trick was this? What sort of twisted, sadistic mirror was this? But as pained as Elphaba felt, staring longingly into the mirror into a world that she knew she would never be able to join, she just could not stop looking...

For hours and hours Elphaba stared at that idealistic image, trying to burn the reflections into her memory. A normal-skinned her, a happy and able Nessa, a proud and affection Frex, Melena alive once again, and the Minister himself looking honored to know Elphaba. For nearly half the night, Elphaba remained there, all thoughts of sleep vanished from her mind as she chose, instead, to dream.

But after long enough, another face entered into her mind. It belonged to the young Slytherin called Glinda, who was Elphaba's best friend, as crazy as that sounded.

"I must tell her about this!" the green witch gasped, then, with a pained look, she parted from the mirror and silently pleaded the reflections to wait up for her. She would be back faster than the blink of an eye.

15 minutes later, a groggy Glinda all but tripped her way into the same room Elphaba sprinted into.

"Look! Look! Glinda, come here! Come quick! Look!" Elphaba continued to half-carry the girl over to the mirror. Glinda muttered something in protest, but she was so tired that the words came out slurred and Elphaba couldn't understand her. But no matter! She simply propped the girl up and faced her towards the mirror.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" Glinda asked tiredly. All she could see was a dirty, grimy... thing.

"The mirror! Look at the mirror!" Elphaba pleaded impatiently, pinching Glinda a little in attempt to wake her up.

"Ouch! Hey!" Glinda's eyes opened up a bit in indignation, but Elphaba only pointed back to the mirror. With a sigh, Glinda turned towards it.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" she repeated, this time sounding more annoyed than tired. Although she loved Elphaba dearly, she loved her beauty sleep too, and could not fathom why in Merlin's beard Elphaba had insisted that she come look at this "magic" mirror at like 2 AM, rudely awakening her from a very deep and peaceful sleep.

"The mirror!" Elphaba repeated, but when she saw genuine disbelief in Glinda's face, she began to realize that Glinda could see nothing.

"Except you and me, just as we are now," Glinda said frustratedly, gesturing to the mirror and then back to herself and Elphaba.

"What? No! That can't be right!" Elphaba muttered, then she moved Glinda to the side and retook her position front and center. Sure enough, her entire family returned. So the mirror _was_ working, by why couldn't Glinda see anything in it? Elphaba looked at the blond in frustration and helplessness. She saw the skepticism and exhaustion in Glinda's eyes and knew that she was losing the little blond's interest rapidly.

"I'm not making this up! I swear!" the green witch pleaded, dragging Glinda back into the spot in front of the mirror once again. Still nothing.

"I believe you, Elphie," Glinda sighed at last. "Truly I do, but maybe only _you_ can see anything in this mirror. It wouldn't be the first time you were capable of something that the rest of us could only dream about," she said and Elphaba, though she hated to admit it, realized Glinda was right.

Although Elphaba was a Hogwarts student just as much as anyone else in the castle was, there were a few things that she was capable of doing naturally that other students could not. Such mysteriously inborn skills included having visions and being able to read in more archaic languages by instinct alone. Maybe this mirror was just like that? Maybe only she could use it, and maybe everyone else would only see it as a normal and nonmagical thing? Elphaba suddenly felt embarrassed and ashamed for having gotten so excited over something so silly. Now, she had needlessly awoken Glinda from her peaceful slumber.

"I'm sorry," she apologized embarrassedly as she came to the same conclusion Glinda had.

"Ah, don't worry about it, Elphie," Glinda smiled tiredly at the green girl, seeing how genuinely ashamed she looked. "I didn't mean to upset you or come off as mean. I was just trying to suggest why I can't see anything out of the ordinary in it."

"No, you're right, I was being stupid," Elphaba growled at herself. "I shouldn't have woken you up like that."

"Not stupid, passionate," Glinda corrected, gently stroking Elphaba's arm. "I think it's cute that you got so excited by this mirror, and that you wanted to show it to me. I'm sorry I can't see anything in it!"

"It's not your fault!" Elphaba was quick to try and shut down Glinda's apology just as quickly as Glinda had shut down hers.

"It's no one's fault," Glinda corrected. "But if you don't mind, I would like to go back to bed now..."

"Of course, Glinda, and I'm sorry, again, for everything," Elphaba said sheepishly as she escorted Glinda out of the room.

"It's ok, Elphie, really, it is," the little blond replied with a tired but genuine smile of affection, then she squeezed Elphaba's hand one last time before heading back down to the Slytherin common room. She and Elphaba had created spells that would allow them to contact one another no matter where they were, which was why Elphaba had been able to wake Glinda up despite them belonging to different houses. Glinda could only hope, now, that for the rest of the night, her wand would remain quiet, and that Elphaba wouldn't wake her up again. Like she had said before, as much as she loved the green girl, she loved her beauty sleep too...

But while Glinda went back to bed, Elphaba went back to the mirror, staring deeply into its mystical depths. She continued to turn Glinda's theory over in her mind. She wondered, then, what sort of mirror this was that only she could see anything in it. She decided that she might try to ask someone tomorrow, and if they asked how she stumbled upon the mirror, she could easily lie and say she took a wrong turn. Since Hogwarts was notorious for switching up its physical layout nearly every five minutes, this lie would be very credible. And she didn't have to incriminate Glinda since the mirror had proven its mysterious and amazing powers even before she came along. So it was settled. Tonight, Elphaba would allow herself to get lost in the parallel universe that this mirror was offering her. Tomorrow, she would ask someone what it was.

12 hours later, Elphaba managed to run into Dumbledore in the hallway.

"Professor!" she called out to him.

"Ms. Thropp!" he gave her a pleased and surprised smile and a gentle nod.

"If you don't mind, I would like to ask you a question," she told him cautiously.

"My dear Ms. Elphaba, I am the headmaster of a school!" he began and, just for a second, Elphaba was worried that she might've caught him at a bad time. But then he continued on. "It brings me no greater pleasure than to answer the questions of my students!" and his eyes twinkled merrily. Elphaba heaved a tiny sigh of relief before she dared to ask her question...

Five minutes later, the two of them had gone their separate ways, each pretending as though nothing at all had happened. Elphaba's mind, however, was a hurricane of activity. From what Dumbledore had said the mirror, called Erised, had the power to show all of its viewers their heart's truest desires. It was not meant to be a permanent object within the castle, however, and was going to be finding a newer, safer home that coming night. As Dumbledore had cautioned, although it was a very beautiful thing, it was also a very dangerous one, and people had wasted away in front of it, trapped in the allures of all of its promises. That was why it was being moved. It was only taking up a temporary stay in the castle.

"I advise you not to go looking for it again," Dumbledore had warned Elphaba gently, but even though his voice was soft and kind and warm, she could hear that serious edge in it and she knew she would rather jump off the top of the astronomy tower without a broom than defy his command.

"Yes sir," she promised, then they had parted ways.

Elphaba made good on her vow to never seek out the mirror again and, a week later, when she found herself walking back from the library in the dead of night yet again (though this time, it was by choice, and Madam Pince had _not_ thrown her out), she kept on walking the entire trip home, not stopping to open a single door on the way. When she reached the place where Erised used to be, the door was gone, and only a smooth stone wall remained. Elphaba couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. Although it saddened her to think she would never get to see that beautiful vision ever again, it also relieved her that she would not accidently fall slave to it and waste away trying to reach it. With it gone, the temptation to return to it was nonexistent. But then Elphaba remembered something funny.

Glinda had claimed that she had been unable to see anything other than herself and Elphaba in that mirror despite standing in the correct place. And her face had been full of genuine confusion and disbelief, so Elphaba knew she hadn't been lying or trying to hide. But as Dumbledore said, anyone, magic or not, could see into the mirror. If that were the case, why didn't Glinda get a vision? It truly puzzled Elphaba and she honestly had no theories on why Glinda had been immune to its powers. Maybe it didn't work on blonds? (No, Elphaba decided, that was too cruel and silly of a theory to be real). Glinda certainly was smart enough, and talented enough, so it wasn't like it was a lack of brains or imagination that might've kept her from seeing anything in Erised. But as she had testified, she had only seen herself and Elphaba as they were. So would could explain why Glinda couldn't get Erised to work? Had the mirror itself decided to deny her a vision? Elphaba wouldn't put it past that mirror...

But while Elphaba spent the rest of her walk back to her dorm pondering this question, she managed to entirely miss the most obvious and easy answer. And it was also the answer that was correct. Glinda _had_ seen something in Erised, and it was just what she had said: herself and Elphaba, as they were. Glinda's Erised was Elphaba. Her deepest desire was already granted: her and Elphaba, together. That was why, to her, the mirror had been nothing but a common looking glass. Because her vision was already a reality. Erised had nothing to offer her, because she already had it. She already had Elphaba. But this answer never crossed poor Elphaba's mind, not even once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Inspired off a post that said Luna would be the one to look into Erised and see herself only as she was, because she already had everything she wanted in life (because Luna is just that pure and humble of a cinnamon roll). 
> 
> Also, I know full well that it's far more likely that Glinda would have A LOT to see in Erised, but for the sake of some Gelphie fluff, Elphaba is all she sees. (Which means it's going to get tragic when she loses Elphaba and then looks into Erised only to see Elphaba still standing at her side. At least she would finally get to see how Erised worked though, heh heh). 
> 
> Also, I know I sort of already did an Elphaba-Erised in my "Mirrors" fic, but this one just has a nice Gelphie spin to it!


	9. Lessons in Language and Levitation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: If this chapter looks familiar, it's because I already posted it before as a separate story. I'm just moving it over to the Hogwarts anthology now because it makes more sense to have it here than floating out on its own.

"Ahben Wingardium Tahkay Leviosa," Glinda cried majestically, waving her wand in dramatic and sweeping motions over the picture that sat at her bedside. It was a picture of herself and her roommate, Elphaba Thropp. In that picture, Glinda was whispering something to Elphaba behind her hand, a secret that made Elphaba smirk in pride. Or at least, that was what Glinda always said. In truth, behind her hand, Glinda hadn't been speaking at all. Instead, she'd been kissing. That picture was really of Glinda sneaking a kiss to Elphaba under the guise of whispering a secret, though perhaps, in that light, Glinda really had been sharing a secret with the green girl after all, one that only they knew and was enough to make that green girl smile almost braggingly, since only she and Glinda knew the truth behind that particular secret.

At the moment, however, all of the secrets and suggestive bliss of that picture was totally lost upon Glinda. She was too busy trying, and failing, to get the stupid old thing to levitate even an inch off her nightstand to care what was actually in the frame at the moment.

"Ahben Wingardium Tahkay Leviosa!" Glinda repeated, waving her wand harder still. It was almost like she was brandishing a whip or a riding crop from how hard she was shaking it at the little picture. At last, then, she turned away from the picture and began to hit her bed. "Is this thing on?!" she muttered to herself angrily. Finally, then, her roommate, who had been in the room the whole time, spoke up.

"Do you want me to try?" the green girl asked, concerned for the wand and mildly irritated at her friend's dramatics. Glinda's bumbling ineptitude with a wand had been funny at first, and even endearing, but now it was getting old. The blond hadn't been able to cast even the simplest of spells without an insane amount of help and Elphaba was tired of watching the girl abuse her wand because of that reason.

"No, no I've got it, I've got it!" said Glinda, stubborn and flustered. Elphaba only sighed in annoyance and admiration at Glinda's determination. Despite Glinda's total lack of skill in all things magic, she never did give up. At least it had sort of paid off earlier, when she'd levitated Nessa's sandwich out of her lap and over to Elphaba. Sadly, though, Glinda had forgotten how to reverse the spell and ended up exploding it all over the poor green girl, sending everyone else in the vicinity into hysterics, even Nessa and Elphaba herself. It really hadn't been too bad but, in response to it, Glinda had since vowed to try harder at sorcery and now, she was making good on that vow.

Glinda, after a quick breather, began waving her wand again in earnest. She waved it harder and harder until Elphaba had to duck to avoid being hit by Glinda's madly flapping arms. She looked like a mad goose and Elphaba was certain her arms would fly off at this point.

"Ok! Stop! Stop! Stop! You're going to take somebody's eye out!" cried Elphaba, reaching blindly and catching Glinda's wild arms, trying to hold them down to keep them from doing any real harm. "Besides, you're saying it wrong. It's LeviOsa, not LeviosA," she added.

"You do it then, if you're so clever," huffed Glinda. Elphaba only rolled her eyes in reply. Hadn't she just offered to do that in the first place only for stubborn Ms. Glinda to insist that she had it?

But instead of making a snarky and sarcastic remark like normal, Elphaba took the high road and inhaled softly before taking the wand.

"Ahben Wingardium Tahkay Leviosa," she said, voice low with something powerful coming from her chest and the back of her throat as she aimed both wand and her own focus upon the little picture Glinda had been trying to levitate. Slowly but surely, then, that little picture floated right off the desk and while Glinda pouted, Elphaba only smirked a little before flicking the wand around the room, the picture flying to wherever Elphaba pointed the wand at. The two watched in silence for about a minute as Elphaba continued making the picture defy gravity before, at last, she finally returned the picture to its original place on Glinda's nightstand.

"Stupid lessons in levitation and language. I'll never get it all right!" Glinda grumbled as Elphaba returned her wand, still smirking.

"Here," offered Elphaba, in a kinder voice, forcing her smirk to turn into a smile of real compassion. "Let me give you some tips," and Glinda, though still wary about accepting help, conceded to let the green girl act as her tutor for those particular lessons in levitation and language.

The next day, while sitting on a bench and enjoying the sun, Elphaba and Glinda found themselves facing off against some of the meaner students of Shiz. They kept walking past the bench at which Elphaba and Glinda sat and, every time they went by, they made some kind of rude remark about her and her freaky, ugly green skin. Then, they even began to throw clumps of grass at her! But Elphaba was used to it and ignored every clump of plant and every nasty word thrown in her direction, not even acknowledging her attackers. Glinda, however, was not used to it at all and, with every pass of those bully students, she got angrier and angrier until at last...

"Ahben Wingardium Tahkay Leviosa," she whispered, pointing to the growing pile of grass covering Elphaba and the ground around her. The multiple clumps of grass all rose up and, at Glinda's bidding, conjoined into one large pile. The next time those students went by, they were buried in a huge pile of grass and leaves, the very same ones that they had hurled with insults at the green girl earlier. When they went to yell at her for doing this to them, Glinda finally interceded verbally.

"That wasn't her, it was me! And if you don't want me to levitate you into that river over there, I suggest you back off! You're ruining my view!" she snarled dangerously. That seemed to do the trick and the newly grass-stained students slunk away in dejection and fear as Glinda waved her wand threateningly. Elphaba, meanwhile, only smiled.

"Not bad," she told the blond. "Your lessons in language and levitation have paid off!"

"Told you I got it," Glinda replied with a smug little smirk, blowing off the tip of her wand before returning it to its sheath, hanging at her side.

ooo

Many years later, Lady Glinda watched her servant, Murth, call in the broom-girl, Rain, to climb up and grab something she couldn't.

"You could've used a spell," Glinda remarked mildly as Rain retrieved the object with ease, passing it down to the shorter, stubbier servant.

"Magic's forbidden, ma'am" Murth replied as Rain climbed back down to ground level. Glinda knew this, but shrugged regardless.

"Magic?" Rain echoed. Glinda, pleased by her interest, nodded.

"Ahben Wingardium Tahkay Leviosa," she whispered, pointing to that very same picture of her and Elphaba, though she had since painted over Elphaba's green skin to make it the same color as her own just for the sake of both of their safeties, though Glinda thought it looked quite ugly. The painting then proceeded to zoom around the room and Rain clapped in awe while even frightened little Murth looked impressed.

"No magic!" a voice boomed out suddenly. It was one of the overbearing soldiers that guarded them all the time, ruining their fun again. The trio sighed angrily before Glinda muttered again. "Ahben Wingardium Tahkay Leviosa!" and this was followed by a string of cuss words.

"Why, what ever is the matter?" she asked mockingly to the swearing soldier.

"Bloody light fell clean out of its socket and onto my head!" came an irritated reply. Rain and Murth both snickered at this while Glinda grinned.

"Told ya I got it," she whispered to the picture, and she almost thought she saw Elphaba's smile on it widen.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Once again, this was not a new story, just a repost. And it is obviously referential of the Levitation scene in Sorcerer's Stone and the Ball Gown spell in Popular. (The bonus shout-out epilogue will only be understood by those who read the "Out of Oz" book).


	10. Cat and Mouse

The Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses were bitter rivals, at least until one enemy came along who was hated enough to put that original rivalry on standby, at least for a little. This enemy was Dolores Jane Umbridge, the "professor" of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Although she managed to curry favor with a handful of Slytherins, she was still hated enough by everyone else that, for once, it wasn't an even divide. She had just as many Slytherin enemies as she did friends and she was one of the first things to ever unite all four houses. Her biggest Slytherin rival was one Glinda Upland, who loathed her with every fiber of her being.

"She gives pink a bad name!" the little blond Slytherin complained as she studied her own blindingly pink wardrobe. Glinda took it very deeply and very personally that Umbridge liked pink, seeing it as a capital crime worse than just about anything else that fat old toad in human skin could cook up. And for once, she was not alone in such irrational hatred. There came a day when Glinda had been forced to walk by Umbridge's office, to her endless revulsion, and she managed to walk on by right as a beautiful silver tabby cat walked on out. Glinda watched it, feeling a new surge of hatred filling up her entire being. Although she knew the cat was not to blame, she couldn't help but despise the cat too just because it was a friend of Umbridge's. Or so Glinda thought. Because even though Umbridge had a sickeningly sweet soft spot for cats, as Glinda would soon learn, this cat was a fellow enemy who only ever disguised herself as a friend.

"Professor McGonagall!" the little blond Slytherin gasped, and sure enough, it was. That little silver tabby cat was no ordinary cat, but Professor McGonagall's Animagus side. She had been a little more than flustered to have her secret discovered by a student, who was also in Slytherin no less, but Glinda looked so enthused that she forgot to chastise the girl for spying on her.

"What were you doing in Umbridge's office?" Glinda demanded excitedly. "Were you really tricking her into thinking you were a friend?!" the little Slytherin looked like she was about to burst with laughter. Sensing this, McGonagall decided to give her an honest answer.

"I've been spying on her," the old professor confessed. "I have her schedule memorized and every afternoon she has a cup of tea in her office, sometimes while conferring with the Minister. I've taken to memorizing that time and creeping about her office during it. She knows me now and knows that I come every day during her lunchbreak. She's come to trust me and often invites me into her office to share some food with me. I only scarf it down because I have to, so I can snoop around without her realizing it. Dreadful stuff she eats!"

The older woman shivered in disgust. Umbridge's tastes were far too sweet for her. But like she had told Glinda, she continued to play up the role of a sweet, innocent little kitty in order to continue to dupe Umbridge and be free to snoop around her office.

"It really is a ghastly place!" McGonagall continued, daring to finally confide in someone how much she reviled the other "professor". "Far too much pink, and far too much lace!" but at this Glinda, frowned a little.

"Hey!" she remarked. Even though she wore her Hogwarts robes, everyone at Hogwarts knew how much their friendly little Slytherin loved the color pink. Even McGonagall knew this and she was quick to see how her words might've offended the little blond.

"My apology, Ms. Upland," she said.

"Well, I can't entirely disagree with you," Glinda admitted. "She does, after all, give pink a very bad name. I think it's ghastly that we have something in common!" and Glinda looked genuinely disgusted and scandalized about the whole thing.

"Imagine how I feel, knowing that she likes cats!" McGonagall nodded back indignantly. "How many times I've wanted to claw her eyes out! Or one day reveal myself to her..." McGonagall's eyes flashed with a dark and sadistic glee at the idea. She could already see it now: she would approach Umbridge's office, but the moment the ugly old toad would pick her up, she would take back her human form and give the pitiful Ministry puppet a heart attack for the ages!

"But sadly, they still need me to spy on her, so for now, I must play along in this stupid little game of cat and mouse. I just can't wait until the day the cat gets to eat the mouse!" McGonagall murmured ruefully, nose crinkling in annoyance.

"Well, maybe it won't be all that bad," Glinda mused. She was thinking now, and McGonagall could see it. "If you have her schedule memorized and if you're always creeping around here in cat form, pretending to be her friend, maybe I can use that to help you sneak a few pranks past her radar..." and then Glinda was off, creatively and cunningly coming up with a plan that would've put the Weasley Twins to shame.

"Oh, we'll be recruiting them!" Glinda promised when McGonagall told her how Weasley she sounded. "And I think we should also include Avaric and Fiyero," she added, still turning this crazy plan over in her mind.

"Isn't Fiyero another Gryffindor?" McGonagall asked, dimly recognizing the name.

"Yes," Glinda confirmed. "He's basically a third Weasley Twin, just minus the orange hair. And so is Avaric, though he's a Slytherin," she explained. Even though she had never been very fond of the pompous idiot named Avaric, because she knew he hated Umbridge too, she knew he would be a valuable ally in this new little game of cat and mouse that she was concocting. No one was able to be as big of a jerk as Avaric, and no one was able to do it quite as gleefully as him. If there was anybody Glinda wanted on her side in a prank war against Umbridge, it was him.

"In fact, he was the one to help us throw our little Star Dust ball in first year!" Glinda replied unthinkingly.

"Your what?" McGonagall asked sharply.

"Oh, oops," Glinda smiled sheepishly, but she could tell from McGonagall's piercing glare that she wasn't going to be able to get out of this one without explaining. So she did. Back when she and everyone else was still all only in first year, Fiyero and Avaric had teamed up to coordinate a fancy ballroom bash in the Hogwarts Great Hall. As soon as the rest of the castle was asleep, the two boys raced to the dining hall and turned it into a little ballroom before inviting all their fellow first year friends to party and dance the night away.

"A couple of first years!" McGonagall sounded a mix of dismayed and impressed that two 11-year-old boys could've had the wit and skills to create what was essentially a Junior Yule Ball in the Hogwarts dining hall without anyone ever knowing. She was in awe of the magical and mental skill it must've taken, all that coordinating and secrecy, combined with the spells needed to keep anyone from hearing the party going on.

"And in fact, I might even be able to rope Nessarose in too!" Glinda continued to scheme, trying to slowly steer McGonagall away from their chat about that secret party in first year. Now she was referring to another Slytherin friend, the younger sister of her Gryffindor girlfriend.

"Elphaba Thropp's sister?" McGonagall narrowed her eyes, recognizing Nessa's name faster than Fiyero's.

"Yes, and I know what you're thinking," Glinda was quick to say. "But even though Elphaba herself isn't one for petty prank wars, Nessa's got a bit of a mean streak. She has a sense of humor, though she usually keeps it undercover. But trust me when I say that I think she would be more than happy to join us in our little crusade against Umbridge!" the little blond explained. Then she recounted an example of Nessa's rebellious side.

Although the girl usually liked to play by the rules and act superior to everyone else, she was no more immune to the allure of normality and popularity than her sister was. There had, after all, been a day when she, Elphaba and Glinda had all been practicing charms together only for Glinda to accidentally cause her sandwiches to explode all over Elphaba. Nessa had laughed for five minutes straight. And Nessa had helped Glinda and Elphaba play a few pranks on the Weasley Twins, Fiyero and Avaric before, so Nessa would be a useful ally as well.

So while Glinda continued to scheme, McGonagall could only listen in awe as this brilliant little Slytherin student began to display all of her best Slytherin traits, and all in the name of pranking the life out of Umbridge. McGonagall couldn't say that she disapproved... In fact, she was quickly learning that Glinda was far more than she appeared to be. And she didn't just mean that in the sappy way that Glinda was smarter and kinder than she might've first appeared (though that was also true). What McGonagall meant was that Glinda was stronger, smarter and more vicious, petty and determined than one might've expected.

From the stories the girl was unwittingly recounting as she continued to list off all the ways their little war against Umbridge could proceed, McGonagall was learning that Glinda was a very fierce and devoted friend and although she could be an absolute angel to the people she loved, she had no issue crossing wands or fists or words with the people she loathed. In fact, one story she recounted gave McGonagall a perfect idea of how quick Glinda would be to engage in a catfight (ha ha) if her friend's honor was on the line. The unfortunate victim was Draco Malfoy.

He, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy had been badmouthing Elphaba Thropp, making all sorts of snide and cruel remarks about her green skin and her blood status as a muggle-born when Glinda had intervened.

"If you really feel so strongly about Elphaba, why don't you say all that to her face?" she snarled.

"Ha! As if we would want to be seen anywhere _near_ that vile and repulsive creature!" Draco sneered.

"Yeah!" Pansy agreed. "We aren't stupid enough to be seen in public with the likes of _her_!" and Crabbe and Goyle only gave nasty laughs.

"What, are you all too afraid to confront her directly?" Glinda asked, knowing exactly where she wanted this argument to go.

"Not scared, just far too above it all to care!" Draco corrected. "Wouldn't want a filthy little piece of pond scum like that anywhere near me!"

"Well, when she and I still fought, at least I had the nerve to actually go toe to toe with her! You've got no excuse to hide your cowardice behind!" Glinda snarked, and it had been true. Back in the days when she and Elphaba were still bitter rivals, Glinda never once hesitated to cross fists and wands with her, even though Elphaba had already made a reputation for herself for being unusually strong and powerful for a student. But despite being known for unusually powerful magical outbursts, Glinda never once was afraid to confront Elphaba head on.

"At least when I still didn't like her, I was actually brave enough to tell her!" Glinda continued to goad the Slytherin quartet. "You do the pureblood line a great disservice by being too scared to fight a muggle-born!" and at last, her jibes finally got Draco and the others to at least try and seek Elphaba out for a fight. They did exactly what Glinda had expected and tried to goad the green girl into a fight near the lake. Although only Glinda knew just how harmful water could be for the green girl, it was no secret to anybody else that she held a deathly fear for the substance. Draco was trying to use that to his advantage, little knowing that he was walking right into Glinda's trap. It really was just like a game of cat and mouse. Then as soon as the mouse was in place, the cat struck. While Draco and his goons taunted Elphaba from the shores of the lake, Glinda was quick to whip out her wand and send them all backwards, plunging headfirst into the icy black waters of the lake. When they came back up, sputtering in outrage, Glinda could only laugh.

The moment Draco reached the shore, he began to rant and rave against Glinda.

"My father will hear about this!" he snarled, reaching for his own wand.

"So will mine," Glinda replied coldly, reminding him that they were on even ground when it came to who had the richer and more powerful parents. Draco's face wilted, then suddenly, he was back in the water Glinda having simply punched him right in the face. Her blow was far stronger than it looked, managing to send him off of his feet before he fell back into the lakes cold waters. Glinda really was not anywhere near as dainty and delicate as she seemed. When Hermione had punched Draco in third year, she had given him a bruise. When Glinda had punched Draco into the lake, she'd broken his nose. It was then that the school stopped insisting that Glinda was weak or polite and began to see her for the angry, aggressive powerhouse that she was.

A second, more comical and less violent example of Glinda's fiery temper presented itself in another story she offhandedly told a curious and interested Professor McGonagall. Apparently, she'd wanted to enjoy a nice evening flight with the green girl only to have an unexpected storm roll in and ruin it all. Angry at the rain for ruining her romantic evening, Glinda had taken to the sky herself and, over the thunder and rain, cursed out the weather, attempting to create a wind spell strong enough to blow the storm away. It didn't work, but the sight of Glinda flying through a torrential downpour while screaming curses (both magical and non) was only a testament to how vicious she could really get. (Glinda conveniently forgot to mention she and her friends had been drunk on Firewhiskey during this event. Even though Glinda was only offhandedly recounting these tales to McGonagall, she still had the sense to leave out the more unallowed bits of the stories).

It was only when Elphaba's fellow nerdy Gryffindor, Hermione Granger, intervened that Glinda stopped trying to hex the storm away. Although Hermione had no spell to fix the weather, she did know of one that could protect an object from the rain. She'd used it before to help Harry Potter fly through rainstorms. It was the Impervius Charm and it, as the name entailed, made the user impervious to water. After casting it over Elphaba, she essentially became waterproof, any and all water rolling off of her as though she were being protected by a thin but effective sheet of plastic, or the most water-resistant oil in the world. But even after that spell, Elphaba had still declined the idea of flying through a rainstorm. Too many years of fearing the water made it hard for her to overcome the phobia, even if she now had a spell to make her waterproof.

"Oh, come on!" Glinda complained, but Elphaba and Hermione at least got her to calm down now that there was a spell out there capable of protecting Elphaba from water's more harmful properties.

So as Glinda continued to scheme, McGonagall could only listen in awe. If anyone had ever told her that there would be a day in her teaching career when she aided a young Slytherin student in messing around with the school's most hated professor in history, she would've had them admitted to St. Mungo's immediately, but here she stood today, listening to an adorable little blond with a pension for pink discussing all of the wicked ways she and her many unique allies could bring Umbridge down. She had an almost scary expression on as she brought in friends from both Gryffindor and Slytherin to aid their little prank war. It was a very interesting example of inter-house friendship and teamwork.

"So that means we've got the Weasley Twins, Fiyero, Avaric, Nessa, myself and you," Glinda muttered. "I'm sure I could rope in some others as well, but let's just start with that little roster first. We need to pull off our first prank after all, and I think I know just how to do it..."

24 hours later, McGonagall was sauntering over to Umbridge's office again in her cat form. She meowed at the door and, just like clockwork, Umbridge opened up. Her squat face split into an ugly grin.

"My beautiful little kitty!" she crooned as she picked McGonagall up and held her high in the air with a look of genuine delight. McGonagall had to fight the urge to claw her eyes out. Instead, she only raised one paw to reveal a pink bow tied around it. It was Glinda's, but it had been enchanted by the Weasley Twins, Fiyero and Avaric to release a host of terrible smells. It wasn't active yet, but as soon as McGonagall would say the incantation, it would stink up the entire office. She just wanted to wait until later on when she had been gone long enough that Umbridge wouldn't suspect that it was she who had left such a stink bomb in the area. Instead, she forced herself to purr at the ugly old lady as she gave McGonagall a saucer of warm milk that was so painfully sweet that she was certain her tongue would burn off.

 _Merlin's beard, woman! How much sugar and cream did you put into this?!_ the cat though as she forced herself to lap up every little last drop.

A few minutes later, Cornelius Fudge's head appeared in Umbridge's fireplace. While he and Umbridge engaged in a very private and intense conversation, McGonagall twitched her ears in attempt to pick up every little last word. Once teatime was over, McGonagall pretended to nuzzle Umbridge's legs before quickly taking leave of that blindingly pink office.

"Goodbye, little one! See you tomorrow!" Umbridge waved sweetly at her but McGonagall didn't even bother looking back as she retreated safely away before turning into a human again and uttering the magic words. Within the next hour, Umbridge's room began to reek so badly that all the rooms around her office needed to be treated while Umbridge herself was red with rage, demanding to know who had done it and how and why.

"I'm sure Mr. Potter had something to do with it!" she shrieked, face red as she screeched out her anger. The little bow McGonagall had brought her earlier was still sitting on her desk, Umbridge having not even suspected that the gift from her precious little cat was the true culprit of the day.

"Well done, Glinda!" McGonagall congratulated the little Slytherin that evening after dinner, stopping her before she could leave the dining hall. Glinda smiled up at her, glowing with pride at having earned the respect and admiration from such an amazing and flawless woman.

"Well done for what?" Elphaba, who was with Glinda at the time, asked curiously. Glinda had not yet told her about their war against Umbridge.

"Oh, nothing Elphie," Glinda grinned smugly. "McGonagall and I have just teamed up to try and make Umbridge's life miserable!"

"Glinda!" Elphaba gave her a withering look.

"Oh, come on! It's an example of house unity!" Glinda pretended to argue. "Your sister is in on it too, after all!"

"She what?!" Elphaba squawked.

"If memory serves me correctly, Glinda said she would be attempting to create a diversion next DADA class by pretending that her wheelchair had been broken down. While Umbridge would go to see what's the matter, Fiyero and Avaric would take the opportunity to hex her desk and chair," McGonagall nodded with a dry grin. Now it was her turn to receive a withering look from Elphaba, though the look she received was laced with amazement as well. Although Elphaba could easily envision Glinda being petty enough to start a prank war with Umbridge, she never thought she'd live to see the day that the distinguished and dignified Minerva McGonagall got in on the action.

"You too, Professor?" she asked, sounding impressed and disbelieving.

"It's all only a fun little game of cat and mouse," McGonagall shrugged. "We weren't planning on causing any lasting or illegal harm. Just a few pranks. It is nothing against the rules and if I don't personally see it happen, how can I punish anyone?" then she gave Elphaba and Glinda both a playful wink, which Glinda returned while Elphaba could only stare back and forth between the two of them, aghast and amazed.

"Like I said, Elphie, it's all about house unity!" Glinda singsonged again with a smug little smile as McGonagall gave them another little wink.

Later that night, then, a silver tabby cat could be seen creeping through the dark and empty halls of Hogwarts, a girl in pink trailing excitedly after her. In the cat's mind, this shade of pink was far prettier than the stuff that their common enemy wore. And speak of the Devil, there she was! Unsuspecting and blind. The cat and girl exchanged wicked little smiles. It was time for the next round of their little game of cat and mouse to begin!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Based off a comic where McGonagall uses her cat form to get close to Umbridge before scaring the crap out of her with the reveal that she's not really a cat at all, but a fellow Hogwarts professor. 
> 
> Also based off a joke I made where Glinda is OUTRAGED that Umbridge likes pink and goes around insisting that her shades of pink are FAR better than Umbridge's.
> 
> Also, if the Aggressive!Glinda seems a bit OOC, just watch Alli Mauzy's Glinda. She knows how to fight. And of course, the Catfight scene from Wicked itself is proof that an adult Glinda will still throw hands when she's mad, even if the person on the other end is her long-lost lesbian lover, LOL. (I'll never get over the humor of the Catfight scene: two adult women fighting, with Glinda doing a fancy wand twirl and all before they both run at each other screaming. Adulthood at its finest).


	11. Brightest Stars

"I'll bet you 10 sickles that-" Elphaba began dryly, but before she could finish, Glinda elbowed her gently.

"Elphie! It's not nice to make fun of them over something like this!" she chided her green-skinned girlfriend.

"Well what?! It's been years and anyone with eyes can see that those two idiots were made for each other!" Elphaba defended herself.

"Perhaps so, but don't you remember? You weren't exactly one of the brightest stars in the sky either," Glinda reminded her with a smirk. She was referring to just how painfully long it had taken the green-skinned Gryffindor to realize that Glinda was flirting with her.

"I thought it was only simple friendship!" Elphaba cried defensively.

"Then you really can't blame Remus and Sirius for believing likewise about each other, can you?" Glinda asked smugly.

"No, I suppose not," Elphaba grumbled, crossing her arms and pouting. This earned her a laugh from Glinda, which lessened her frown slightly.

The two were presently sitting together in the library, discussing the matter of two of Elphaba's closest friends: Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. Anyone who knew them knew that they had amazing chemistry together, yet ironically enough, Remus and Sirius themselves seemed oblivious to this fact. It was something Elphaba liked to make jokes about, though as Glinda had just now pointed out, Elphaba hadn't exactly been the best at detecting romance either, so it wasn't really fair for her to tease Remus and Sirius over their own blindness.

"But still! We need to get them together! Watching them dance around one another so obliviously is killing me!" the green girl cried dramatically, earning another laugh from her girlfriend.

"I'll help you in any way that I can," she promised. Although Glinda did not know the two other Gryffindors as well as Elphaba did, she did still consider them distant friends and she was more than happy to help them hook up if that was what would make them the happiest. Besides, Glinda always loved playing the role of a matchmaker! She wouldn't miss out on this chance for anything in the world! Especially if it was Elphaba who was asking. To anyone who knew _them_ , it was clear that Glinda would do pretty much anything Elphaba asked of her. This little attempt at bringing Remus and Sirius together was no exception.

30 minutes later, Glinda found herself sidling up to the shy, young Gryffindor boy hiding away in the corner of the library.

"Hey Remus," she greeted softly as she approached. He was very deep into his book and her greeting, although it had been gentle, startled him.

"Oh! H-hey, G-Glinda!" Remus was always a rather shy, quiet boy, especially around Slytherins and pretty women. Glinda, being a combination of both, was just that much more intimidating to poor Remus. Glinda found it all very amusing, tossing her golden curls just to tease the boy a little bit more. Who said her inner vixen could never come out? A lot of her closer friends were certain she was at least part Veela and there were occasions when Glinda almost believed them!

But once Glinda decided that she was done scaring poor Remus half to death, she cut to the chase of why she was visiting him today.

"Elphaba, Sirius and I were going to go swimming in the lake tomorrow afternoon and we were wondering if you wanted to come along," she said.

"Just you, Elphaba and Sirius?" Remus sounded surprised. He was used to James and Peter coming along with them.

"Yeah, well, you have to remember that Peter still has a potions assignment he hasn't finished and James is serving another detention for disorderly conduct," Glinda snorted. These were both lies, but she was telling them anyway because the goal of tomorrow's outing was not to get the Marauders together, but rather, to get Sirius and Remus to finally become a couple. That couldn't happen if James and Peter tagged along, even though Glinda was very fond of them too.

But they had to sit this one out, so Glinda had quickly come up with alibis for them and Remus believed her easily enough. Because he knew she was one of the nice Slytherins who did not pick on him for any of his quirks or oddities, he didn't even think to question the validity of her statements regarding the other two Marauders. Besides, both of the alibis were just so realistic that even if Remus hadn't trusted her, he still would've had to admit that the likelihood of her story being true was still very high.

"So, what do you say?" Glinda asked as Remus continued to ponder her offer. "Since James and Peter can't come along, consider Elphaba and I to be their temporary replacements for the day!"

"And you would be James? Or Peter?" Remus couldn't help but tease and Glinda laughed despite herself.

"Well, I am not half so foolish and cowardly as Peter, but I must confess that I find James to be quite irritating," she said with a huff of mock disdain. "I am not sure I like either of the options you are presenting me with!" and this earned a laugh from Remus. Good! That meant he was warming up to her! Again, although Remus did consider Glinda a friend, it was clear that he still felt a bit nervous around her. That simply would not do if Glinda were to get him to play along with her and Elphaba's little plot to get him with Sirius.

"Alright, fine, I'm in!" Remus decided at last and Glinda let out a soft sigh of relief.

"Don't worry Remus, it'll be great fun!" she promised, patting his shoulder happily. With her request accepted, Glinda had no more reason to linger, so after giving Remus that friendly pat, she skipped away back towards the heart of the library. As she left, she whispered one last thing to Remus, although she knew he wouldn't hear it.

"Your whole life is about to change, and it's all because of me!" and she sounded very proud of herself.

At the same time, Elphaba had been busy working on Sirius. He was, at the moment, down near the Quidditch pitch, trying to enchant the brooms into doing something crazy.

"And just what are you up to?" Elphaba sneered playfully as she drew near to Sirius, watching him wave his wand over an old broomstick.

"Trying to see if I can make flight a little bit more… exciting," he replied mischievously, not bothering to look up at her as he continued to mutter the incantation. He knew she was a fellow rebel at heart and that she would never rat him out for pulling a stupid stunt like this.

"Aha!" Sirius drew away from his broom proudly. Elphaba caught a glimpse of a silver aura of light flickering around the broom but, only half a second later, it had gone.

"What exactly did you do?" Elphaba raised an amused eyebrow.

"You'll see!" came the mischievous reply, then Sirius hopped up onto his broom and shot into the sky. Only five seconds later, the broom began to buck wildly like it was trying to throw Sirius clean off of itself.

"Yee haw!" Sirius bellowed in delight, tightening his legs and hands around the broom as it thrashed wildly beneath him. A normal, sane person would've been terrified out of their wits, but Sirius was neither of those things and he, instead, got quite a thrill out of trying to stay on a broom hellbent on throwing him off.

Elphaba watched him ride with an amused shake of the head. This was Sirius in a nutshell: a crazy, diehard rebel who liked to cause trouble whenever and wherever it was possible. She had no doubt that that spell was not only going to affect Sirius' broom. It was more than likely that he was already plotting to hex a lot of other brooms as well, but not hers. He and Elphaba were in a pact not to prank one another. Though Elphaba was pretty sure she'd be able to stay on a wild broom, she had very strong fingers and thighs after all. This thought made her smirk lewdly.

"WOOOOAHHH!" at last, Sirius was successfully thrown from his broom. Elphaba watched him fall, waiting to see what he would do to save himself. As reckless as Sirius was, she knew he wouldn't have done this without a backup plan.

"Levicorpus!" and sure enough, Elphaba proved correct. Sirius pointed his own wand at himself and shouted the incantation, making himself float back upward, and then he gently lowered himself to the ground.

"You idiot," Elphaba grinned at him good-naturedly as his feet returned to the Earth.

"The one and only! The very best!" Sirius agreed, grinning right back at her. "But what brings you out here? I'm assuming you didn't just come out here to spend time with little old me?" he teased.

"You are right," Elphaba replied with a smirk. "I came here on important business."

"Oooh, and what might this important business be?" Sirius asked.

"Glinda, Remus and I were going to go swimming in the lake tomorrow afternoon and we were wondering if you wanted to come along," she said.

"Just you, Glinda and Remus?" Sirius sounded surprised. He was used to James and Peter coming along with them…

After repeating much of the same things that Glinda had told Remus, Elphaba finally got Sirius to agree to their little outing.

"Alright, cool, I'm in!" he decided at last.

"Great!" Elphaba replied. "I'll see you then!"

"See you then," he echoed, then the two shared a brief but hardy hug before parting ways, Sirius going back to his crazed broom while Elphaba returned to the castle, rolling her eyes affectionately Sirius one last time before he was out of her sightline completely.

The very next day, the quartet found themselves standing on the edge of the black lake.

"It's so beautiful!" Glinda sighed, admiring the dark emerald waters and how they sparkled in the warm sun. She wasted no time in diving in.

"Ehhh," Elphaba made a strange noise in the back of her throat. Although only Glinda knew the real reason why, it was no secret to anyone that Elphaba had a fear of water. It was one of the things Sirius had actually asked her about when she first invited him along on the outing.

"I thought you hated water!" he had said.

"But I love Glinda," was the reply, and that was all Sirius needed to hear to understand. He knew that Elphaba and Glinda were a couple and he thought it was awesome! Keep in mind, he was very much a rebel, so traditional gender and marital roles were the last thing he cared about. The entire stupid system about men and women marrying to produce pureblooded heirs was complete and utter nonsense to him and he wouldn't have minded if that entire institution, metaphorically, burned down over night. He was in full support of anything that went against the system, including Elphaba and Glinda's love story. But despite this rebellious attitude, he still seemed oblivious about his own feelings towards Remus, even though they were rather bold, especially during this outing.

"Hey," Sirius threw a chummy arm over Remus' shoulder.

"Hey," Remus looked up at him with wide, adoring eyes.

"You planning on going in?" Sirius asked, cocking his head towards the water.

"Maybe in a little," Remus replied quietly. Although he really did plan on swimming today, he wanted to just enjoy the nice, quiet, beautiful serenity of nature before he got lost underwater. Glinda was already there, and she was slowly persuading Elphaba to join her, discreetly using a water repellant charm over the green girl's entire body so that the water could not harm her at all. But that didn't mean Elphaba was ready to just jump in head-first. It was still taking a bit of coaxing on Glinda's part to get the green girl in the water.

"Eh, well, whenever you decide to take the plunge, tell me so I can push you in," Sirius shrugged, smirking as he said this.

"Sure thing," Remus snorted back. The two continued to stare at one another, unaware that Elphaba and Glinda had stopped in their own little games to watch them closely. Although no one could see it, Glinda's fingers were crossed under the water.

"Jeez, it's hot out!" Sirius muttered at last, taking off his robes. Remus inhaled sharply. Sirius had a very attractive body. It was large, muscled and toned. There was a roughness to it, but that roughness didn't make it look gritty or ragged. It made it look handsome and fierce. Remus didn't even realize he was staring until Sirius started to move along the shore again, forcing Remus to sort of chase after him.

"If those two idiots don't start kissing in five seconds-!" Elphaba growled.

"Give it time, Elphie!" Glinda whispered back, tugging gently on Elphaba's arm. But it was clear she was just as anxious as her Gryffindor girlfriend. The objects of their watchful gaze, however, remained oblivious. They continued to walk back and forth across the shore before Remus finally decided to hop in the water. As he removed his robes, it was Sirius' turn to look a little starstruck. There were some nasty scars on his body, which only he and the other Marauders knew the story behind, but Sirius thought they looked… beautiful, in a strong and powerful kind of way. That was not to romanticize the horror Remus endured when he got those scars, but it was to say that when Sirius saw them, he didn't see ugliness, weakness or strangeness, he saw a survivor, and as a survivor of his own past, Sirius held a very deep respect for every single one of Remus' scars.

This kinship to fellow survivors was also what drew Sirius to Elphaba. They had grown up with very similar lives: less-than-stellar parents, a favored sibling that was not them, the feeling of not belonging, and the rebellious heart. Remus, too, had shared a similar story. It was what attracted Sirius to him as well even though he didn't quite seem to understand that yet. Sirius understood that he found Remus to be quite pretty and cute, and that he liked Remus' scars, but the romantic part of these feeling were still somehow going right over Sirius' head.

Remus slid into the water first.

"Gah! It's cold!" he complained. Glinda and Elphaba laughed at him as they swam over.

"Baby!" they both teased. Sirius continued to watch from shore but, the moment the other three were all within arm's reach of each other, he cannonballed in, having waited patiently for this exact moment when he could splash all three of them at once.

"SIRIUS!" three outraged voices filled the warm, sunny air, but it was drowned out by Sirius' own laughter as he resurfaced, spitting a fountain of water at all three of them. This earned even more outrage but, like before, it had no effect on Sirius.

For the next couple hours, the quartet laughed, played and swam together, sometimes doing laps for fun and sometimes doing races and sometimes trying to invent new games to play while in the water. By the time they all clambered back out, all of them looked like prunes (minus Elphaba, who was still being protected by the water-repellant spell) and the sun was finally starting to set.

"But they still haven't-!" Glinda whispered urgently to Elphaba, pointing her eyes towards their two male companions.

"I'm well aware of that," Elphaba muttered darkly, but then a sly smile slowly spread across her face. "But just leave it to me…" and Glinda was suddenly very interested in what Elphaba was about to do…

In the end, it was nothing special. Elphaba just led them all towards a spot halfway between the Forbidden Forest and the school. There was a small piece of the forest that was a safer end and it was there that Elphaba was going.

"Are you really taking them to our…?" Glinda trailed off, eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Yes I am," Elphaba whispered back. She was taking them to one of the places where she and Glinda first began falling in love. It was a small patch of forest with a little creek running through it. It was a serene and beautiful place and one could get a great view from the sunset while there. Maybe it would finally be enough to get Sirius and Remus to stop being so blind…

At last, the quartet was standing in the place where Elphaba and Glinda had shared so many memories.

"Why are we here?" Sirius asked first, looking confused. He had been expecting more adventure.

"It's just a nice place to watch the sunset," Elphaba replied easily as she sat down on a nearby stone. It was flat and smooth, perfect for sitting.

"You've watched the sunsets here before?" Sirius sounded doubtful now. Weren't the views better from the rooftops or a tall tower?

"With Glinda, yes," Elphaba gave Sirius a meaningful look and then it finally clicked. He was surprised that Elphaba was so willing to share such a meaningful place with him and Remus, but he certainly wasn't going to let that trust go unappreciated. He smiled fondly at the green girl but before he could speak, Glinda picked up where Elphaba had left off. Maybe they hadn't exactly had time to rehearse a script, but they knew one another well enough to initiatively feed off of one another whenever they needed to get something done together.

"Yeah, Elphie and I have spent a lot of days and nights alone here together, just enjoying each other's company," she began. "And honestly, after today, we both think that you and Remus deserve to see this place too because we think that you might be able to see it in the same light that we did…" it was the most explicit thing either she or Elphaba had said all night and it finally seemed to do the trick. It planted a seed in the minds of Sirius and Remus and that was exactly what Elphaba and Glinda wanted.

"Me and Sirius?" Remus was the first one to pipe up, looking genuinely surprised at Glinda's remark.

"Mmm-hmm!" Glinda replied with a smile. "You two kind of remind me of Elphie and I, and we thought that you'd like to hang out together in this place just like Elphie and I do!"

"Oh," Remus didn't seem to have a more intelligent reply than that, but that was because, at the moment, he was busy mulling over Glinda's words.

"Come on, Remus," Glinda sighed, voice dropping into a soft and chiding whisper. It was the same voice she'd used when talking to him in the library and it was the same voice she had used back when she and Elphaba first started becoming friends. It was that gentle, guiding tone, pleading for the person listening to really hear and understand what she was trying to say.

"Oh," Remus repeated, but this time, there was something more in that single syllable than before. He was finally starting to get it. All those stolen looks and shared glances and gazes. All those admiring stares and lovestruck thoughts. Remus was finally starting to realize that it was more than a brotherly idolization that he felt whenever he was around Sirius. It was a different type of love. It was the type of love Glinda felt whenever she was admiring something wonderful that Elphaba had done. It was the type of love Glinda felt whenever she was with Elphaba at all. Remus never really was able to connect the dots until just then, but suddenly, it was like a light had been turned on.

"Oh!" and Elphaba and Glinda exchanged relieved glances. They had done it. Now all they needed to do was watch it all unfold…

Sirius had been much quieter, but his mind was running a similar track. Was it true? Was the way he looked at and felt for Remus really the same as the way Elphaba looked at and felt for Glinda? Did Elphaba feel the same protective rush over Glinda that Sirius felt for Remus? Did she feel that same amusement and adoration? That desire to protect, cherish and be beside forever? Did Elphaba ever look at Glinda's petite figure and just fall in love with it? And had Sirius being doing the same thing with Remus all this time? Yes. Sirius was beginning to think that he had…

As the silence continued, Remus and Sirius continued to stare at one another, still half-lost in their own thoughts. To bring them back to the present, Elphaba and Glinda slowly started up an idle conversation. On reflex alone, Remus and Sirius joined in, but after a while, Elphaba and Glinda slid back out of the conversation, slowly letting Remus and Sirius carry it all. Suddenly, four had been cut down to two and Remus and Sirius were all that remained. Elphaba and Glinda exchanged satisfied looks before carefully creeping away, leaving their two friends lost in each other and each other's conversations. Even the sun had gone down, giving the two boys their proper privacy. But even though the sun had left them in peace, the stars continued to shine brightly overhead.

It was very late in the night when Remus and Sirius realized that Elphaba and Glinda had abandoned them and the two boys turned boyfriends shared a laugh over it before deciding to head back to the castle as well, returning to it in a very different state than they had left it just a few hours ago. But right before the two of them crossed the castle's threshold, they took one last look out at the beautiful night sky before turning to one another and then slowly, slowly, slowly, and then all of a sudden, they were kissing. It was warm and soft and strange and new and wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

Elphaba and Glinda might've been in bed by then, but somehow, both of them knew that, at long, long last, Sirius and Remus had finally figured it all out. The stars remained bright long after all of them had finally fallen asleep, but the brightest stars of all were the ones who were in human form. Those particular stars continued to shine even after the sun rose the next day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Marauders era Gelphie where Gelphie helps Wolfstar become canon. Hope this was what you wanted, elphiegranger2508.


	12. Portkey

"Seriously, Elphie?" Galinda tutted to herself. She had been taking a walk along the Hogwarts grounds only to catch sight of the familiar outline of Elphaba's trademark black hat during her walk. It was hanging from a tree and it looked as if its owner had set it there intentionally. No doubt, Elphaba had been studying outside and decided to use the tree as something of a hat rack for her hat only to then forget it once she finally decided to return to the castle. Galinda shook her head in fond amusement before heading over to the tree to fetch the hat. No sooner had she touched the brim of it, however, than did the world suddenly vanish from all around her.

"Merlin's beard!" she shrieked as the ground was suddenly ripped out from under her. She felt as if a hook had suddenly inserted itself just behind her navel and was now jerking her along, yanking her straight into the air at an alarming speed. She would've screamed again had she not been frozen in terror, gripping Elphaba's hat like a lifeline as she continued to fly along faster than she thought possible. But then only a second later, Galinda suddenly found herself back down on the ground, landing hard on her rear on the other side of the Hogwarts grounds.

"Merlin's beard!" she cried again, only this time, she could only gasp. Her pulse was rushing, her head was reeling, her face was flushing and her stomach was keeling. It was an unpleasant experience, to say the least. And it took at least a minute or so before she finally felt steady enough to get back on her feet. Elphaba's hat was still clenched tightly in her fist. She gave it a terrified look but, blessedly, it did not do anything else.

15 minutes later, Galinda was storming along the halls of Hogwarts. She knew Elphaba was in Charms at the moment, but the class was set to end in about three minutes. Waiting impatiently by the door, Galinda counted down the seconds until she caught sight of the green-skinned Gryffindor. Right on time, she emerged from the Charms classroom with a proud smile on her face. When she caught sight of Galinda though, scowling and waiting for her impatiently, some of her pride turned to amusement.

"Well! Doesn't _someone_ look like a bubbly little ball of sunshine today?" she teased as she carefully made her way over to her Slytherin friend.

"Your hat nearly killed me!" Galinda snapped at once.

"What?" Elphaba's amused smile changed to confusion.

"Your hat!" Galinda repeated impatiently, holding up the object in question. "I don't know what crazy anti-theft spell you put on it, but it flung me halfway across the grounds like a rag doll!" she cried, then Elphaba's confusion changed both to amusement and embarrassment.

"Oh, no! Galinda!" she roared with laughter. "You weren't supposed to touch it!"

"No really?" Galinda scoffed. "I was just trying to be nice and bring it to you! You left it on one of the trees on the east side of the grounds!"

"No, Galinda!" Elphaba repeated still laughing. "That was intentional! I was testing a portkey spell on it and I was actually going to go try it out right now! But I guess you beat me to it…" she continued, her laughter finally quieting into stifled snickers.

"Wait, portkey?" Galinda's anger was forgotten in a moment of realization. Of course! That was what had happened! The only reason she had not realized it sooner was because the surprise had caught her so off guard. A portkey! Of course! But wait!

"How in Merlin's name did you manage _that_?" Galinda asked, some of her annoyance changing into awe. Elphaba's wit never did cease to amaze her. There were still many days when Galinda wondered how Elphaba had managed to land in Gryffindor rather than Ravenclaw.

"Eh, I just wanted to see if I could do it," Elphaba shrugged in reply.

"Ah, that is _so_ you," Galinda snorted and Elphaba cackled in agreement. It was no secret that she loved to experiment!

"But it wasn't just that," the green-skinned Gryffindor admitted. "I was inspired by our little excursion last month."

"Oh yeah. That," Galinda winced at the memory. About a month ago, Elphaba's Nanny had come up to visit. Elphaba, Galinda and Nessa had all spent the day with her and they had used a portkey to temporarily leave Hogwarts grounds. Back then, only Nanny had ever used a portkey before.

" _Hold on tight, duckies!" Nanny almost cackled as she gestured to the manky old boot sitting in front of them._

" _What?" Elphaba blinked._

" _It's a portkey," Galinda whispered back to her. She may not have ever used one before, but growing up in the world of magic meant that she knew what it was. And Nanny nodded before explaining to Elphaba._

" _It's faster than a broom and is very good for transporting multiple people all at once. You just need to hang on tightly!" then on her command, everyone reached out to grab the boot._

_"MERLIN'S BEARD!" Galinda, Nessa and Elphaba all shrieked in terror as they were suddenly yanked away from the ground by an invisible force. Nanny, meanwhile, looked absolutely elated._

" _Hold on tight, duckies!" she repeated gleefully, giving an almost psychotic laugh as they were all spun through the sky. Then barely four seconds later, they all came crashing back down to the ground. Or at least, Elphaba and Galinda came crashing back down. Nanny and Nessa, meanwhile, had a much more elegant and safe descent from the clouds._

_"Ah! I forgot to warn you duckies on how to land properly! Silly me!" Nanny said cheerfully. Nessa, meanwhile, looked quite smug._

" _Aren't you two just the picture of sophisticated grace?" she teased Elphaba and Galinda, who were still struggling to stand up again._

" _Well that's hardly fair of you to say," Elphaba retorted. "Nanny held onto your wheelchair the entire time! Unfair advantage!"_

" _All's fair in love and war," Nessa replied with a shrug, still smirking at her two fellow Hogwarts students._

" _Besides, I had to make sure Nessa didn't fall off too soon!" Nanny agreed. "That certainly wouldn't have been good!"_

" _Are we sure about that, though?" Elphaba asked, raising her eyebrows teasingly._

" _You monster!" Nessa cried back, pretending to get deeply offended. Galinda, meanwhile, watched, torn between amusement and soreness._

"Yeah. I remember that day," Galinda finally said. "I had a bruise on my butt for like a week straight! And actually, come to think of it…" the young Slytherin began to rub her behind again, earning another cackle from Elphaba.

"Ahhh, I wish I could've been there!" she laughed.

"You monster," Galinda replied, sticking her tongue out at Elphaba.

"An absolutely wicked witch," Elphaba agreed with a mischievous wink, finally taking her hat back from Galinda and putting it on dramatically.

"Well at least you look the part," Galinda teased, looking at Elphaba's imposing figure. She looked even more intimidating with the hat on, that hat giving her even more height than she already had, plus hiding the upper half of her face in shadows. Elphaba gave a witchy cackle to encourage Galinda and Galinda shook her head in fond amusement.

"Maybe you can invent a spell that makes it so that portkeys can be accessed with words rather than touch next," the little blond Slytherin finally said. "That would be useful in preventing any further mix-ups."

"Eh, maybe one day," Elphaba replied with a shrug. "Or maybe _you_ could just be more careful next time!" she added with another wink.

"Well I was trying to be nice!" Galinda began to pout again. "It was out of the goodness of my heart!"

"Well, my sweet," Elphaba cackled again, "Didn't they ever tell you that no good deed goes unpunished?"

"Well I know that _now_!"Galinda griped. "My rear hasn't been this sore in ages!"

"Oh?" Elphaba raised her eyebrows suggestively and Galinda suddenly turned as red as a Quaffle.

"Shut it, Elphie!" she mumbled embarrassedly.

"I didn't say a word," Elphaba gave her a look of mock innocence to the little, blushing Slytherin.

"Whatever," the smaller witch shook her golden curls in attempt to shake off her embarrassment.

"I still think portkeys should be required to be accessed by words rather than touch!" she said next, insistently.

"Well, by all means, have at it," Elphaba said playfully. "I've got plenty of textbooks that could help you come up with something."

"You don't think I can really do it, do you?" Galinda frowned, sensing the teasing tone in Elphaba's voice.

"Well I never said that, my sweet," Elphaba promised, but Galinda didn't miss that wicked little gleam in her eye. In response, Galinda only heaved a tired sigh and shook her head in fond amusement…

Many years later, one Glinda Arduenna-Upland would find fame and fortune for many wonderful accomplishments over her lifetime. One of her most recent ones was finally inventing a portkey that required a very specific phrase to be spoken before the portkey would lift off. The first successful prototype came in the form of a pair of ruby slippers, and the passphrase was one that would become just as iconic as the shoes that it was attached to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: My headcanon is that Dorothy's shoes were portkeys (just accessed with word rather than touch), because of course Glinda would want to use fancy slippers rather than a manky old boot. Furthermore, this means Glinda is crazy powerful if she can, in this AU, send a girl from England to America with one portkey. That's an impressive feat. 
> 
> Also yes, I'm sure there are probably lots of rules about using portkeys on school grounds, or making them without anyone else's knowledge, but let's just pretend that those rules don't matter for this chapter, ok? LOL.


End file.
